Challenge

• Difficult to constantly update measures with changing AQCS and government policies on COVID-19 
• Ensuring the wellbeing of residents, staff and visitors by implementing safe-distancing measures and eliminating overcrowding
• Keeping track of all visitors and screening them before entry 
• Making sure that frontline staff, residents and visitors are aware of and satisfied with COVID-10 measures in place 

Solution

• All-in-one visitor management system that managed visitor bookings and recorded vital information e.g visitor temperature 
• Visitor sentiment tracker and analysis which automatically churns operationally-ready data for facilities to use when implementing COVID-19 policies 
• Straightforward, concise weekly reports and email summaries that facilitate data extraction and overview

Results

• 100% staff motivation and 88% staff satisfaction with COVID-19 measures executed by SVCS 
• 93% of SVCS visitors feel that their COVID-19 policies are just right 
• 96% visitor satisfaction with bookings made through Zipline 
• 16,000 bookings processed across 20 sites in 3 months

Challenge 

COVID-19 has presented the aged care community in particular with a plethora of challenges and obstacles to overcome. Being the last frontiers of safety for their residents, the St Vincent’s Care Services (SVCS) community has had to face an unprecedented challenge of managing a pandemic, while still being sensitive to the needs of their residents and visitors. For SVCS, this meant finding a way to seamlessly book in and report visits, while still adhering to the social distancing rules put in place by the government. This was made even more challenging as there was no universally applicable visitor management process in place across their facilities, and any policy introduced had to be regularly updated in accordance with Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQS) regulations. Prue Densley, SVCS Executive General Manager of Consumer Experience, contextualises the challenge that the management team faced when trying to adapt to the new guidelines. 

“There was no way to capture accurate visitor numbers – everything was anecdotal. Each facility also managed their visiting processes differently, which just added to the complexity. It was difficult to keep up with the evolving regulations. Policies were often changing daily and we had to interpret and filter these new rules for aged care across three different states. Some states were changing their guidelines at different times too, so applying one regimented, national rule for visitations was very hard at the start.”

Pressure mounted across the SVCS facilities, with managers trying to maintain their high levels of efficiency, while dealing with an increased workload due to the new COVID-19 policies. SVCS had to be very careful when planning and introducing any new measures. In addition to enforcing effective safe-distancing regulations, the team also had to exercise great empathy and sensitivity across their operations, keeping both residents and their loved ones updated and informed. 

Initially, Ms Densley was determined to implement a tour booking system to unpack the experiences of new clients looking to move into the facility (or on behalf of their loved ones), and see where improvements could be made. However, with the unforeseen circumstances of the virus impacting aged care across Australia, she knew that priorities had to change. Faced with balancing visitor numbers, social distancing rules and making sure residents, visitors, and employees alike were kept safe and happy, Ms Densley knew that she needed to act immediately.

Solution 

Under the recommendation of their CEO Lincoln Hopper, Ms Densley reached out to RateIt in the hopes of solving this daunting series of challenges. In response, RateIt worked with SVCS to launch Zipline: a unique, 100% ACQS compliant visitor management system that incorporated visitor sentiment tracking and provided analysis on how to operationalise feedback given by visitors. Initially poised to trial across three facilities, Zipline’s success quickly mounted in a matter of weeks, and the visitor booking tool was eventually deployed across all 20 SVCS sites, processing an average of 12,000 bookings monthly.

Zipline and its impact on SVCS

To contain the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of their residents and staff members, SVCS needed to keep records of all visitors on site. In line with the social-distancing measures set out by the government, this also meant making sure that there was no overcrowding within each of their facilities. This required an efficient management system to track visitors coming in and out of the sites. 

Zipline also provided state managers with complete transparency around what had been going on across each facility – this was especially handy since most had to work remotely due to COVID-19. Ms Densley elaborated how important Zipline’s malleability as a product was to SVCS.

“We needed this type of tool to be used by both contact centre staff and reception, especially when dealing with walk-ins. Flexibility was crucial as regulations continually altered, so making sure this system also had the smarts to handle these timing changes was very important to us.”

With the implementation of Zipline, SVCS was now always on top of the latest government regulations for COVID-19. Not only were they keeping people safe and secure by preventing overcrowding in their facilities and tracking visitors in-and-out of their sites, but they were also effectively managing expectations of the families visiting. Most importantly, Zipline provided SVCS with a complete snapshot of visitor numbers per day and per site, helping the team plan for peak visitor periods based on the data captured. Zipline also sent a post-visit SMS to each visitor, asking for feedback. This provided real-time responses on their experience; what they loved about their visit, and what could be improved on for next time. From this feedback, SVCS could then determine a consumer experience score out of 10. This data would then be analysed for SVCS to take action immediately. 

100% AQCS Compliance  

One of the biggest problems that age care facilities faced across Australia when implementing their COVID-19 responses was making sure of their policies’ relevance. This is especially difficult to maintain as the situation of the pandemic was ever-changing, resulting in new government measures being constantly implemented and revamped. 

Armed with Zipline, SVCS’s visitor management processes were automatically updated by the RateIt team to always be 100% AQCS and National Health Department compliant. This relieved the pressure on the SVCS management team to constantly monitor and keep up with the changing rules and regulations, freeing up bandwidth for the team to focus more on other areas of their services.

Achieving Operational Efficiency  

Zipline was not only effective at implementing crowd control across SVCS facilities, but it was also able to provide immediate, clear insights to SVCS about their visitor sentiment. Prior to using Zipline, the team were unable to track when peak visiting hours occurred due to the impact of the pandemic. As more visitors arrived during weekend hours, SVCS implemented an around-the-clock reception schedule, which greatly stretched their resources.

However, through the integration of Zipline, SVCS were able to identify peak visiting time slots and augment their staff deployment accordingly. The impact on the frontline team was immediate. Using RateIt’s Pulse of the Team technology, the SVCS management team noted that after the introduction of Zipline, 100% of all service members at the facilities expressed that they were motivated and feeling great. Crucially, all sites achieved an astonishing 88% approval rating from their frontline team members towards the COVID-19 safety measures and regulations put in place. Not only did Zipline help to mitigate visitor management problems, but it also provided critical operational data for SVCS to implement improvements for their employees.

A better relationship between SVCS, their residents and their visitors 

Zipline differed from ordinary visitor management systems because it fostered engagement beyond just the residents. It operated beyond just being a visitor management system, but served as an important platform that communicated between SVCS and its visitors. This was an especially important and delightful benefit for SVCS, particularly during this current stressful climate. Ms Densley noted that Zipline also operated as a great way to reach out to their visitors and assess the reception of any new policy changes they enacted. 

“We’ve had a large number of visitors engage with Zipline, with many happy to be contacted to discuss their feedback further. The greatest outcome of using Zipline is understanding what our clients are feeling and thinking. For example, we recently found out that 96% of our visitors think the COVID-19 safety measures we have put in place are just right – we would never have access to this type of insight in the past.”

Zipline: The SVCS-recommended Visitor Management system for Aged Care

Covid-19 brought an unprecedented need for change and improvement, particularly for aged care providers. Together with RateIt, Ms Densley and her team over at SVCS were able to respond immediately to protect their residents, visitors and employees by adopting the use of Zipline. When asked why SVCS chose RateIt, Ms Densley concluded that “Zipline is a one-stop solution. It is easy to use, painless to integrate and just so efficient in managing visitors in line with government guidelines. The team is a delight to work with and have made me feel more informed and comfortable with what’s happening at each of our sites. It has been an exciting and much-needed venture that has created a space of trust and connection for our residents’ loved ones”.