If you're like most of our customers, you'll want a reliable Electronic Call Monitoring system (ECM) in order to know where all your care workers are at any given time. You'll want to know this for their own safety, for the safety of your service users, for the quality of care that you deliver and for the efficiency of your business.

With CarePlanner, you have no fewer than four cost-effective call monitoring solutions to choose from – all you have to do is to pick the one that works best for your business. And, of course, if you need some advice our support team is always on hand and happy to help.

Start-Stop logging via the CarePlanner Mobile App

Our simplest solution is for care workers to simply log when they start or end a call by tapping a button on the CarePlanner Mobile App. Even if they don't have an internet connection at the time, the app will record the event and then upload it to CarePlanner system when signal returns. The duration of the appointment is recorded and can be viewed immediately by administrators. If you choose, the mobile app can also record the care worker's location at the time they pressed the button, which is then visible on a map in the CarePlanner system.

OTP Devices

Our OTP (One Time Password) devices are a really popular choice for monitoring calls. The devices are small, robust little widgets that look a bit like pagers. They are usually kept in the keysafe, or in the care plan folder at the service user's property.

Pressing a button on the OTP device brings up an eight-digit number, which is unique to the time of day and service user. A care worker can then send this number via the mobile app, text it via SMS on their mobile phone, or even write it down on their timesheet and hand it to an administrator at the end of the day. Because the code is unique, and can only be produced by one particular device at one particular time and date, it can always be verified by the CarePlanner system to guarantee that the care worker completed the call.

NFC Tags

You've probably seen NFC (Near Field Communication) tags built in to bus stops or used in shops. The coin-sized tags are left at a service user's property and can be read by any smartphone NFC Tags use a smartphone NFC reader and the CarePlanner App to log in or out of the call.

The advantage of NFC tags is the speed – you can simply swipe a mobile phone over them and the CarePlanner App will open, acknowledge your arrival, send this data back to the office and show you any care or medication notes that you need for the service user. Simple, but secure and effective.

NFC tag monitoring is available on all NFC-enabled Android and Windows phones.

Landline call monitoring

If using the mobile app or OTP devices isn't an option then our landline call monitoring (LCM) solution might be the solution.

Using the landline call monitoring system, care workers need only make a free, 5 second call from the service user's landline to a dedicated number. The call is automatically picked up by the CarePlanner system and is shown to an administrator as 'started' or 'completed'.

Call monitoring for the administrator

Whichever call monitoring option you choose for your care workers, back in the office you'll have access to a mine of useful information. Want to be alerted if a care worker hasn't arrived at an appointment? Just tick a box and you'll be notified by pop-up, email or text. Want to know how punctual your care workers have been this week? We've got a report that will tell you just that. Want to know where your care workers are at any given time? CarePlanner overlays their last known position on a map, based on call monitoring or GPS data.

Mobile Phones from CarePlanner

If you'd like to use the mobile app in your service but your staff don't have up-to-date mobile phones, then do get in touch. We have competitive mobile phone packages available, supplying you with exactly the right technology for mobile care work. Our Alcatel Pixi 4 handsets offer:

• Quad Core 1.0 GHZ CPU.
• 8.0 Mega Pixel Camera.
• GPS navigation.
• Talk Time up to 12 hours.
• Standby time up to 473 hours.
• 8GB Internal memory.
• NFC enabled.
• Bluetooth.
• 5" Screen.