Digital technology is an undeniable part of our daily lives, and on-demand access to services and information has become the new normal. Gladly, many aged, community and disability care providers took the lead and are now giving their clients, families and teams more tools to communicate and be fully informed of their services.
The most successful apps are the ones that are specific for the care service sector and can plug into scheduling and CMS tools in place to fuel the app with real-time information that frontline teams, clients and families can access at any time. This simple action drastically reduces the inbound call volume and alleviate the stress on office and frontline teams.
What to do with an app for aged care, community care or disability care
That is actually up to you and the needs of your client base and staff. What do they usually ask for? What are the common reasons they call or complain about?
The provider’s app should be a way to address issues, reduce costs and the stress that usually takes over teams’ busy days.
But here are a few possibilities that are easily available nowadays:
- Real-time view of scheduled services with full allocated worker’s profile
- Ability to request schedule changes, cancellations or request additional service offerings
- View personalised social feed updates with push notifications
- View financial information, including graphical budget views, transaction listings, invoices and statements
- Pay invoices via in-app payment
- View additional activities and offers by the provider, register to book in for activities or enquire about additional services
- View Care Plans and care service documentation
- Edit personal details and preferences – providing tailored insights for the care team to have awareness prior to initiating service
- Invite family or contacts to participate in the app and see what services are being provided and when by the client’s health team
Here at Hayylo, we’ve worked with many care providers across Australia and supported them to deploy their customised client and family apps – all according to their particular requirements, policies and needs.
These 12 aged, community and disability care apps are available on app stores right now and supporting the provision of high-quality care for thousands of people. Check them out:
Chorus App (WA)
Chorus provides in-home and community support to more than 10,000 people across metro and regional Western Australia. They currently have a team of 1,000 staff and volunteers.
Who is it for? Clients, families and support workers
How do they use it? Support workers can view client documents, schedules, request changes to visits, manage time and attendance and communicate with the clients, families and other workers supporting the same clients to truly keep a team-managed continuation of care. Clients and families can view documents and schedules, request changes to scheduled visits, communicate with each other and carers, plus send new requests to the service team.
The concept of Health Teams is a key part of the Chorus app, bringing together frontline and support teams, clients, family, friends and the wider communities. Other members automatically update members of the health team. Similarly, frontline teams can message amongst themselves, ensuring client preferences were respected and knowledge shared. They now have total control and independence over the information they need when they need it.
Life Care App (SA)
Life Care is a not-for-profit organisation providing residential aged care services around the Adelaide Metropolitan area. It aims to create communities where people embrace life and live every day.
Who is it for? Clients, families and support workers
How do they use it? When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across Australia, Life Care made the wellbeing of its residents a priority, and they didn’t save efforts to ensure it. Quickly, the Hayylo-Life Care LIVE app connected the frontline teams, clients and the wider care network directly and seamlessly.
The easy access to information raises awareness among residents around their health and promotes a more fulfilling life inside the facility. They can also share photos and videos, interact with their health team and allow their family members to keep up with everything that’s going on.
Life Care brought in a communications consultant to provide training to the frontline teams on communicating with the community effectively. It proved to be valuable and sees ongoing large scale usage today. Hence, the app adoption was fast and stuck even after the lockdown period; it is now part of their lives.
Goodwin Aged Care App (ACT)
For over 60 years, Goodwin has been a community-based, not for profit organisation providing the Canberra and regional community with experience-driven independent living villages, reliable and innovative in-home community care, and superior standard residential aged care facilities.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? Goodwin has implemented Hayylo to connect their home care and residential clients, families and teams with their services in real-time.
Within the app, clients have the freedom to:
- Reschedule a service or request a new service
- Provide feedback on services
- Share service dates and times with nominated family members or carers
- Get reminders about when a staff member is due to visit
- Stay in contact with events, news and more
The entire operation benefits from efficient communication, reduced calls due to better and ongoing communication and being prepared now for emergencies and events, like the COVID-19 outbreaks, in the future.
“Using Hayylo has been really easy and a great way for us to manage the appointments with mum. One of the biggest challenges has been my husband and I know what’s happening each day and managing mum with any changes. Hayylo has certainly made that a lot easier and given us some peace of mind”
Churches of Christ App (QLD)
Churches of Christ in Queensland (CofCQLD) has been providing home services to the community for over 89 years and understand the importance of remaining connected to their clients, especially during times of rapid change.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? At Churches of Christ QLD, the app was called My Home Care and delivers major efficiencies to care coordination through automated service delivery updates, two-way communication channels, including the app, voice and video conferencing capabilities.
The app and other Hayylo platform capabilities mean better value for clients and enhanced communication, allowing the provider to continue to deliver high standards of care to the vulnerable people of Queensland whilst reducing costs across their operations, even amidst the most challenging times ahead.
Within the app, clients and families can:
- Stay in contact with events, news and more
- Get updates after the teams perform wellness checks
- Place requests and stay connected
NovaCare App (NSW)
With a focus on community-based support within the aged, disability, and home health care services, the Newcastle based provider NovaCare supports over 1,000 clients.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? NovaCare has been an early adopter of technology as a way to drive value for their clients via enhanced levels of communication and care coordination. The app powered by Hayylo helps them address the greater focus on transparency, coordination and support that the Royal Commission has inspired.
The NovaCare app provides clients and their families with a new way to communicate, share and engage with information regarding their NovaCare services. They know clients have busy lives and focus on providing new ways to access and manage the services they or their loved ones receive.
With a client-focused approach to care services, the app enables them to:
- View schedules
- Request changes
- Receive updates around service change
- Book and pay for special offers and activities from NovaCare
- Provide feedback on services
Integratedliving (NSW)
Integratedliving is a leading provider of health services throughout rural, regional and remote communities across Australia. They provide a range of health and wellbeing services, such as aged care and disability support, for individuals and their families.
Who is it for? Clients, families and staff
How do they use it? At integratedliving, the app was called My Support App and is a popular way for clients and circle of care to view information about services. They can also make changes and share information with designated family members and friends.
The integratedliving staff also use the app to provide up-to-date information and even promote news, events and offers.
With the app, clients have control and autonomy to:
- Reschedule an integratedliving service or request a new service
- Provide feedback on your service
- Share service dates and times with nominated family members or carers
- Get reminders about when a staff member is due to visit
- Review your schedule and confirm the dates and times for your services
- Opt in to receive news on offers and events.
Spinal Life Australia (QLD)
Spinal Life works hard to support people with spinal cord damage to living empowered and full lives. For 60 years, they’ve been providing critical services, support and advocating on issues that matter most to their members and the broader disability community.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? At Spinal Life Australia, the app powered by Hayylo was called AccessSLA and allows existing clients and their families to communicate and share information and updates with their loved ones and the team at Spinal Life Australia.
Within the app, they can:
- Stay connected with the latest Spinal Life Australia news, events and more
- Share updates to the team at Spinal Life Australia
- Invite family members to connect and share updates
Southern Cross Care Tasmania (TAS)
Southern Cross Care is Tasmania’s largest not-for-profit aged care provider dedicated to delivering flexible health and lifestyle services across Tasmania. SCCTas is one of Tasmania’s largest employers with nearly 1,400 full, part-time and casual employees, providing the full range of services across Home and Community Services, Lifestyle Villages and Residential Aged Care.
Who is it for? Clients, families and teams
How do they use it? The Southern Cross Care Tasmania app – powered by Hayylo – allows existing clients and their families to communicate and share information and updates with their loved ones and the team.
Within the app, they can:
- Stay connected with the latest news, events and more
- Share updates to the team at Southern Cross Care Tasmania
- Invite family members to connect and share updates
- Receive ETA (estimated time of arrival) alerts from support workers
Mercy Services (NSW)
Mercy Services provides community and in-home support across various parts of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Lower Hunter region of NSW to older people, people with disabilities, people affected by drug and alcohol abuse, the socially disadvantaged, and families.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? The Mercy Services app allows clients and their families to communicate and share information and updates with their loved ones and the team at Mercy Services.
Within the app, they can easily:
- View and manage your care schedule
- Stay connected with the latest Mercy Services news, events and more
- Share updates to the team at Mercy Services
- Invite family members to connect and share updates
- Send requests and enquiries in seconds to your care team
Gippsland Lakes Complete Health (VIC)
Gippsland Lakes Complete Health has been based in East Gippsland since 1975, providing services throughout the region from central locations and via an extensive network of partnerships. The organisation employs over 450 staff and 500 volunteers across five sites.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? At GLCH, the app powered by Hayylo was called Complete Health. Within the app, clients benefit from on-demand access to:
- View schedule
- Request changes
- Receive automatic updates around service changes
- Book, Manage and Pay for additional services
- Book and Pay for special offers from Gippsland Lakes
Additionally, the app uses location services to automatically update clients and families when Gippsland Lakes Community Health workers visit clients in the community.
Prestige In-home Care (VIC/NSW)
Prestige In-home Care currently supports over 6,000 clients across Melbourne and Sydney and has been delivering exceptional home care services for more than 20 years. They focus on achieving and maintaining independence through tailored in-home support in the comfort of the client’s home.
Who is it for? Home care clients and families
How do they use it? At Prestige, the app was called My Prestige. It gives real-time access to rosters, billing information and streamlines the access to care coordination teams. Clients also can request any changes to rosters online, including requesting additional shifts, changing times or shift cancellations. They can use these functions themselves or easily invite other family members to access them as well.
The app powered by Hayylo ensures clients are in control.
AccessCare (VIC)
AccessCare is a home care services provider auspiced by the Kingston City Council in Southern Melbourne. Supporting 3,300 people who are older, homeless, have disabilities and/or are carers, AccessCare has developed a strong reputation over the past 20 years for providing for those with complex needs.
Who is it for? Clients and families
How do they use it? The council-run provider partnered with Hayylo to deliver the first of its kind anywhere in Australia for a council to be adopting client-facing technology within the aged and community care sector.
Self-service, on-demand, and fully transparent information is a key deliverable of the partnership. It addresses the highest levels of care services by empowering clients, families and field teams with awareness and control over the decisions that involve them.
The app is one of the ways to make this happen by enabling self-service information, such as:
- Stay connected with the latest news, events and more
- Share updates to the team at AccessCare
- Invite family members to connect and share updates
- Receive ETA (estimated time of arrival) from workers when they are on their way
