Smyth Lodge is an 80-bed care home in Sidcup specialising in dementia and nursing care and is part of the Care UK group. Smyth Lodge has implemented Docobo’s DOC@HOME remote monitoring technology as part of an NHS X and NHS England-funded project led by the London Borough of Bexley. London Borough of Bexley has successfully united health and social care for the benefit of care home residents by deploying technology across the majority of its care homes. The project has been expanded over the years and recently been awarded additional funding. Remote monitoring supports personalisation and integration while managing residents’ health and wellbeing, promoting independence for people living in care homes.

We talk to Nikki Campion, Deputy Manager at Smyth Lodge about using Docobo’s remote monitoring across the care home.

Rolling out remote monitoring at Smyth Lodge

With Nikki’s previous experience with DOC@HOME, she took the opportunity to enhance the existing service at  Smyth Lodge and led the way, with support from the Home Manager, Tracey Cheeseman, and the team.

Smyth Lodge have since won a Docobo Innovation Award for their excellent deployment of remote monitoring. Nikki explains ‘When I joined Smyth Lodge, I took the lead for updating colleagues and training new staff on Docobo. The team found it really easy to use and we are seeing huge benefits.’

A colleague says: ‘I was really surprised how quick and easy it was to pick up the Docobo solution when Nikki gave us training, we now use it every day and it’s great!’

How does remote monitoring at Smyth Lodge work?

Remote monitoring from Docobo is a quick and easy to pick up and use with a simple process, thus:
• Staff at Smyth Lodge record residents’ vital signs and symptoms onto a tablet on a regular basis as part of ‘Resident of the Day’ or if there are health concerns
• Staff answer specific questions relating to how the resident is feeling
• All information entered via the Docobo system is automatically transferred to Sidcup Medical Practice
• Any anomalies in the readings will automatically alert the GPs at Sidcup Medical Practice
• GPs at will respond within the day
Nikki says: ‘Docobo really is a fantastic piece of technology and works so well in a care home. We’ve picked up some great benefits from using Docobo alongside our Resident of the Day system.
We can take observations and then send through on the Docobo solution to the GPs in Sidcup Medical Practice, who will then follow up if there are any concerns. The solution also enables GPs to set baselines for each resident, which is great for referencing for any future health issues.’

Nikki continues: ‘Docobo is brilliant and eliminates the need for care staff phoning the surgery. It simply saves time when referring any health concerns about our residents to the GP.’

Evidence based trail leading to resident-centred care

Nikki says ‘If we are concerned about the health of a resident, rather than spend time on a call, we can contact the GP surgery via Docobo. This information is transferred instantly and they can often sort out our concerns using evidence and baselines from the system without necessarily having to come to the home. We don’t have to spend ages on the phone and it’s so easy to use.
‘What’s so impressive is the additional information we can store, which works so well in the system. For example, as part of the ‘resident of the day’ question set, we would be asking questions such as ‘did the resident sleep well?’ This is important for doctors to know about – and we can evidence this now.’