|
RFID system for home care monitoring launched |
UK company Crown Computing has launched a new Homecare Monitoring system to enable supervisors in control centres to be aware in real time that carers are arriving on time at each of their planned visits.
The real time data is captured using a mobile phone issued to each carer, and a contact free chip card or tag located at the service user address.
Should a carer be late for a time critical visit, the system will generate an alert to inform the supervisor who can then investigate and put a contingency plan in place if needed.
The technology used is near field communication – a form of radio frequency identification (RFID) – where the mobile phone is used to scan the contact free chipcard (which has a unique ID) thus pinpointing the location of the carer at a specific time.
"At each visit the carer's mobile phone reads the client's card or tag using a simple "swipe" motion to send the start and end time of each visit back to the system database in real time," said Mike Hawkesford, Managing Director of Crown Computing, on the Hospital IT Europe website.
"This has a number of advantages for the service provider; there is confirmation in real time that the person being cared for is receiving the care they have contracted to provide and from a health and safety perspective the system is providing up to date information about the whereabouts of each carer."
At the other end of the process, data captured from the system can also be used to trigger payments to staff members and invoices to the local authorities, as well as costs to be correctly allocated and recharges appropriately attributed, eliminating the need for the carer to fill in manual timesheets – saving time and reducing errors, said Crown Computing.
The company added that applications for this technology include security and field maintenance sectors, where being able to confirm in real time that their operatives have visited specific locations at a specific time is an important part of their service. |
