A mobile approach to personalising care under the NDIS

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has had a monumental impact on the care sector, from both a client and provider perspective. For better or worse, it’s meant that many care providers have had to rethink their approaches.

Multitask is no exception. With the introduction of the NDIS in July 2016, our 250+ staff experienced a significant increase in client requests to receive services in their own homes or at local community centres, rather than at designated locations. This resulted in staff spending significantly more time out in the field while still having to deal with administrative processes that were primarily desk based.

Without changes to our administrative and operational processes, it became clear that staff were going to be overwhelmed and our service could suffer. We have more than 270 clients and each of them is incredibly important to us. We decided we needed a solution which could support an increasingly mobile workforce to streamline operational processes and get back to what mattered.

CarelinkGo is the mobile version of Civica’s CarelinkPlus, which we had been happily using for the last 12 years to deliver on our commitment to support disabled community members. As a smartphone app, we learnt that CarelinkGo could provide our staff with the real-time client data and roster information they needed from anywhere at any time. Accessing these benefits was crucial if Multitask was going to successfully navigate the new NDIS landscape and do the best by its clients.

One month was allocated for testing, and the process went well from a technical perspective. The main challenge was that there was some resistance by staff to using the technology, as many had not used any phone-based software for work purposes before.

A bring-your-own-device approach was selected for cost purposes and because staff were already familiar with their own device. This caused a few hiccups because certain requirements had to be met by each staff member before CarelinkGo could be deployed on their device. This included updating the operating system, adding a screen lock and antivirus software, and activating geolocation.

After these initial issues with installation and connection, everything ran smoothly. The app’s intuitive user experience made training requirements minimal, with staff easily able to use the app once they overcame their initial opposition to accessing work-related information via their phones.

Since all staff began regularly using the mobile app in December 2018 the reaction has been exceptional. In fact, we had staff that were not part of the initial test group asking when they could use it.

Using a smartphone application has allowed us to achieve our goal of providing mobile staff with real-time access to client and administrative information from the field. By implementing Civica’s CarelinkGo, Multitask employees have been able to streamline operational processes and cut administration time by at least one hour a week per employee. This includes eliminating time spent contacting rosters to make shift enquiries, completing repetitive admin procedures and manually collating shift notes. Admin staff in the main office have also benefited, being able to gather more accurate log times for shifts using CarelinkGo.

We estimate the technology has enabled Multitask to save over 17,000 hours and $50,000 in cost savings per annum. The cost and time savings achieved via CarelinkGo have had a significant impact on our ability to serve our clients by freeing up our time to travel to client homes and focus on improving the overall client experience.

By taking time away from admin tasks, staff can get back to the real purpose of their work — spending more time providing better care to clients, in places that best suits their needs and preferences. Thanks to the success of the CarelinkGo implementation, Multitask is now looking at how it can further improve the lives of our staff and customers using phone app-based technology. The sky’s the limit.