Smarter scheduling with OneTouch

The role of technology in streamlining scheduling

Scheduling is a major paint point for home care organisations. It is also a major administrative overhead, with many providers needing to employ entire scheduling teams to manage their workforce. Due to cumbersome systems schedulers are often required to work tirelessly on creating, editing and updating schedules at a moment’s notice.

This is where a care management system can alleviate an enormous amount of time and stress, not only for schedulers but for care staff too. Giving scheduling staff the tools they need to streamline their responsibilities and manage staff more effectively saves hours each week, giving an enormous boost to organisational efficiency. Here’s how we do it.

Optimising efficiency with digital scheduling

Drag-and-drop wall charts

Our wall chart has been revolutionary for OneTouch users. The wall chart provides an “at a glance” overview of each carers entire schedule on a day-by-day basis.

This allows schedulers to make real-time changes in an instant. These changes are automatically communicated to all affected staff, further saving administrative time and alleviating the stress of schedulers phoning each carer on an individual basis.

Schedulers can then make quick and simple last-minute changes when a carer calls in sick. Using the wall chart, reassigning a shift is a simple matter of dragging and dropping each visit into an open time slot within an available carers schedule.

Shift bidding

Another point of convenience for schedulers and carers alike is OneTouch’s shift bidding feature. This allows schedulers to fill shifts that need to be reassigned by bulk SMSing their workforce. Any carer that wishes to pick up additional hours can request the shift, which is assigned on a first come first serve basis. This saves schedulers time by alleviating the need for them to ring around to reallocate each shift, further streamlining the reallocation process.

Dashboard and reports

On the central OneTouch dashboard, a live feed of all unallocated shifts for the day appears front and centre. This allows schedulers logging on for the day to immediately see anything that requires their urgent attention, ensuring that no visit goes unallocated, and that each client receives the ongoing care they need.

Schedulers can also use the Clock In report to view in real-time when staff have clocked in for their shift, allowing them to reallocate shifts if carers are running late or no shows.

Matching client needs with carer skills

Creating optimal schedules isn’t simply about matching clients to carers that live within their proximity and have an open time slot – it’s about ensuring that care and services are being provided in alignment with the needs, goals and outcomes outlined in each clients care plan.

This involves matching clients to staff with the relevant clinical and care skills, and relevant certifications, where required. OneTouch makes this simple with care tags.

Mandatory tags are tags that the carer must have in order to be scheduled with a client that requires this tag. For example, some clients may require a carer that possesses manual handling skills. Some clients may also require a carer that is male or female.

There are also ‘nice to have’ tags which whilst not mandatory, allow schedulers to match clients and carers that may have similar interests or things in common.

When allocating shifts, OneTouch makes this simple and straightforward with Conflict and No Conflict tags placed next to carers. This conflict could be due to a timing clash or a required care tag not being present. The system will also attempt to first match clients with carers they have had previously to promote continuity of care whenever possible.

Empowering care staff

OneTouch’s Care App empowers carers to manage more of their own schedule than other systems or manual processes.

This simplifies many responsibilities for carers, who can complete their timesheet digitally each week through the clock in and clock out feature on the app. They can use the app to check their schedule at anytime, and apply for additional shifts if they are looking to pick up extra work. They can also submit annual leave applications directly within the app.

These jobs are then all manageable by carers, alleviating scheduling and management staff who no longer need to print and circulate copies of schedules ad nauseum. Timesheets simply need to be verified before being submitted to payroll, and annual leave can be approved or declined with the click of a button.

This gives time back to office staff and centralises information within one central care management system, rather than having it float about on paper or in disparate records.

What our clients say about scheduling with OneTouch

McLean Care implemented OneTouch at their aged care organisation in early 2024. This was a transformative experience for their scheduling, finance and care teams. When it came to scheduling, they needed an efficient way to create recurring rosters as well as allocate last minute coverage for sick leave.

“Immediately we could see how OneTouch would streamline our rostering and scheduling processes. Navigating around schedules to add, alter and remove appointments is twice as fast, if not more”.

Michael Ryan-Everett, Roster Clerk at McLean Care.

“To be able to quickly jump from one town and set of clients and carers to another is so helpful”.

Anna Franklin, Community Program Manager at McLean Care.

Since implementation, all aspects of rostering have been streamlined and made more efficient. Staff no longer need to spend hours painstakingly reallocating shifts or adding new services.

Read the full case study here for more information. Or, if you’d like to see the system in action, book a demo with us today.