New Care Home Vacancy Portal Launched

A new digital portal is to be launched which allows health and social care staff to see how many vacancies there are in local care homes, with the aim of reducing delayed transfers of care.

The web-based Capacity Tracker – built in partnership with NHS England North, Local Authority representatives and care home providers – enables care homes to share their available capacity in real time and allows users to search for care home availability across England. The system helps the user identify suitable care homes helping the individual to make the right choice for them and ensuring that they don’t stay in hospital any longer than is necessary.

Capacity Tracker Key features and benefits:

• For health and social care staff the Capacity Tracker helps minimise the number of Delayed Transfers of Care and reduces the amount of time discharge teams waste on ringing around care homes searching for vacancies.  In fact, repeat phone calls become a thing of the past.
• It’s fast, secure and completely free to care homes. It’s simple to register too, with rapid set up that allows users to have access within minutes.
• It provides a view of care homes with vacancies across the country, supporting effective discharge and reducing length of stay from hospital.
• Care homes can advertise their vacancies across the country within 30 seconds.  These instant updates can be made from any internet connected device, including smartphones and tablets at a time and place that’s convenient for the user.
• Through our comprehensive suite of reports our users can easily analyse the nationally published Delayed Transfers of Care data for any Trust and Local Authority in England.
• They can also benchmark their DTOC performance and track the impact of initiatives designed to reduce delayed transfers of care.
• The Capacity Tracker makes it easier and faster for care homes to fill their vacancies and, when a care home placement is needed, for local authority and NHS staff to find an appropriate placement for the person who needs it.
• Users are involved in the continual development of the Capacity Tracker, which keeps evolving to meet users’ changing requirements and priorities.  To achieve this, NECS continues to work in collaboration with NHS England and its rapidly expanding network of Health and Social Care customers.
• The Capacity Tracker is delivered by NECS, an NHS organisation that is NHS Digital Data Security and Protection Toolkit compliant and is renowned for developing and delivering high quality products and services across the country to health and social care.
• Over 5,200 care homes currently registered, 8684 users representing 183 CCGs and 139 Local Authorities.

Glen Garrod, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said, ‘We know that for the vast majority of people, they are most comfortable staying in their own homes in their local communities for as long as possible, so every effort should be made to keep people well and where it’s possible and safe, to prevent the need to be admitted to hospital, or indeed a residential setting, in the first place.

‘However, if people do need to go to hospital then health and social care must work together to support people through their period in hospital, and on discharge to help them return home wherever that is possible. We must think ‘home first’. If after a thorough discussion with the person and their family, it is decided that going home is not an option and a residential care home is required then it is important we work together, with individuals and their families, to support them to make an informed choice based upon the information and advice provided.’