Author: Nightingale

The complexities of managing staff in the care sector can be a significant drain on resources. Traditional methods, involving numerous phone calls and messages to determine staff availability and skills, can be time-consuming and inefficient. But what if there was a way to transform these operations, bringing about efficiency, quality enhancement, cost savings, and improved customer service? 

Enter Nightingale Software’s Competency-Based Shift Bidding system.

Designed to revolutionise roster management in community-based organisations, our unique shift bidding system offers a comprehensive, efficient, and tailor-made solution. No more unanswered calls or unreturned messages; instead, broadcast shift details directly to your staff, all with just a few clicks.

Here’s how it works:

Nightingale’s platform gives you an intuitive, real-time overview of your staff’s availability, competencies, and location. With this data, you can broadcast shifts directly through the Nightingale Staff App, targeting those who are best suited and available for the job. This enables your staff to view and bid on the shifts instantaneously.

Our Competency-Based Shift Bidding system excels in its ability to adapt to your organisation’s unique needs. We understand that every community-based organisation has distinct demands and qualifications. Hence, our system allows you to align the competencies of your staff with the specific requirements of each shift, ensuring that the most suitable individuals are selected.

But the advantages of Nightingale’s system extend beyond the internal operations of your organisation. Improved efficiency and staff allocation lead to enhanced service quality for your clients and a more satisfying work experience for your staff. They have clarity over their shifts, better matching with their skills, leading to increased job satisfaction.

Nightingale’s Competency-Based Shift Bidding system isn’t just a feature; it’s a catalyst for digital transformation in the aged and disability care sector. It empowers your organisation to concentrate on what truly matters – providing superior care and fostering a positive work environment, rather than juggling rostering challenges.

With Nightingale, you’re choosing a future of efficiency, quality, and growth.

At Nightingale Software, we’re in the business of simplifying complex processes. We’ve worked closely with NDIS providers across Australia, enabling them to deliver superior care whilst constantly improving our software. Through our innovative solutions, we’ve helped these organisations streamline their administrative tasks and automate their enterprise workflows, allowing them to focus on their core mission: providing exceptional care and services.

Australia’s care economy, a crucial component to Australian’s quality of life, is expansive and ever-evolving. Spanning the NDIS, veterans’ care, early childhood education, and aged and residential care, its reach is wide and impactful. Significantly, the care and support workforce in the country is growing three times faster than other sectors. According to a recent report, the demand for care and support workers is expected to double by 2049-50 due to the considerable projected need for care and support services across all areas.

However, operating in this dynamic sector comes with its unique set of challenges. One such challenge is the constant shifts and changes in the NDIS guidelines. These alterations can often leave providers scrambling for solutions. For instance, the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, formerly known as the “NDIS Price Guide”, assist participants and providers in understanding the pricing controls for supports and services within the NDIS. Keeping pace with these regular changes and ensuring compliance can be a daunting task for many providers.

This is where Nightingale steps in.

Our NDIS software solutions are designed to work in lock-step with the NDIS, adapting to its changes as they happen, taking the stress off your teams, and ensuring that your organisation stays up-to-date and compliant. Instead of reacting to changes, with Nightingale, you can be proactive and prepared.

Nightingale’s technology reduces the complexity of navigating the evolving landscape of the NDIS. With the capability to process the minutiae of shifting regulations, our software frees up your team to do what they do best: deliver high-quality care and services.

Nightingale is more than just a software platform – it’s a trusted partner for your organisation, designed to navigate the complexities of the NDIS, so you don’t have to. As we move towards a future with a growing demand for care services, Nightingale is committed to empowering care providers with the tools they need to thrive.

Together, let’s embrace the changing landscape of the NDIS and ensure a brighter, more streamlined future for care in Australia.

In an industry that’s evolving at breakneck speed, one recent development stands out: Procura, a division of Complia Health, has been acquired by AlayaCare, a global provider of healthcare software. 

This acquisition raises important questions for care providers seeking the right software solution. One such question is how the newly globalised Procura-AlayaCare compares with a software that has been, and more importantly, will continue to be, locally developed and updated to comply with Australian government legislation and compliance requirements – Nightingale Software.

Nightingale: An Australian Story

Originating as a part of the ANSON Management Consulting brand in 2015, Nightingale Software boasts a legacy of understanding and serving the needs of Australian community service providers. With ANSON’s two-decade-long engagement with Western Australian service providers, Nightingale has enjoyed a privileged position when it comes to grasping the nuances of consumer-directed care.

Through extensive sector consultation and on-ground testing, Nightingale has created a positive impact on providers across Australia. We cherish the trust our clients place in us, and we’re continually energised by the fantastic feedback we receive.

We understand that funding regimes are subject to frequent reviews, and changes in government, policy, law, and competitive forces require care providers to operate in a constant state of change. Instead of resisting change, we embrace it. Our commitment ensures that Nightingale remains current, relevant, and effective, maximising the return on your investment today and into the future.

Nightingale Software, an Australian-bred solution, is purpose-built for the NDIS, Aged Care, and Allied Health markets. With its roots firmly planted in understanding and serving the local community service providers, Nightingale adapts to the evolving sector dynamics, catering to the needs of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers, and acting as a trusted partner for Home Care Providers amidst ongoing aged care reforms. It combines a rich suite of tools to manage resource allocation, support scheduling, care management, invoicing, and Home Care Package management, thereby enabling care providers to concentrate on their primary goal: delivering excellent care for their clients.

Nightingale’s comprehensive feature set offers unparalleled support to manage both clients and staff, operational workflows, and financial transactions, coupled with a user-friendly mobile app for staff and clients alike. From smart rostering tools, live funding usage tracking, powerful case note systems, automated rostering, in-built award interpretation, to robust operations management tools including incident tracking workflows and custom forms builder, Nightingale puts an organisation’s efficiency at the forefront. The software also offers finance management features such as automatic PRODA claims reconciliation, finance and payroll platform integrations, and automated client billing and claiming. With a steadfast commitment to onboarding, implementation, and 24/7 local support, Nightingale offers a range of services, including online courses, video tutorials, webinars, and a fully featured Knowledge Base. Nightingale stands as a holistic software solution that not only simplifies operations but also adapts to the changes and challenges inherent to the care services industry.

How to Choose

As we have witnessed in the recent acquisition of Procura by AlayaCare, businesses in our industry are in a constant state of flux. While these changes often bring new technologies and broader global networks, they can also lead to a focus on the larger picture, sometimes at the expense of understanding and catering to local needs and compliance requirements.

With the acquisition, Procura is becoming part of a larger, global entity, which may result in a broader, more global perspective. However, there may also be a risk that Procura’s software might not be as quickly or comprehensively updated to align with the rapidly changing local Australian legislation and compliance requirements.

This is where Nightingale, with our local focus and commitment to staying abreast of Australian legislative changes, offers a significant advantage. Our mission is to ensure that our software continues to remain compliant with Australian regulations. We understand the local Australian context and are committed to updating Nightingale in line with local legislative and compliance changes. Our team works hard to ensure that our clients always have the most up-to-date, compliant software at their fingertips, mitigating risks and promoting operational efficiency.

In a world where global entities often overlook the local nuances of aged care and NDIS services, Nightingale stands out with its firm roots in Australian soil, its commitment to adaptability, and its provider-centric approach. We invite providers to experience Nightingale’s unique blend of local understanding, continual relevance, and unwavering support.

When clients are given a Home Care Package from the government, they need to know what they have spent their funds on and what funds they have remaining to allocate to care. The Home Care Package is accrued monthly and the government subsidy each month is detailed in your statement.

What’s included in a Home Care Package(HCP)?

A Home Care Package is designed to provide individuals with a package of funds that can be used to access any care or services they require to maintain a safe and comfortable life in their own home. There are established guidelines that define what a Home Care Package can be used for – some these things may include:

• Meal preparation
• Transport to and from appointments
• Household tasks such as cleaning, gardening and washing
• Allied health services such as physiotherapy

Who is eligible?

As everyone’s care needs are different, there are four levels of Home Care Packages with different funding amounts. The package level assigned to someone is based on their needs. 

• Level 1 – $9179.75
• Level 2 – $16147.60
• Level 3 – $35138.55
• Level 4 – $53268.10

Someone in Level 1 may only require minor assistance whereas someone assigned to Level 4 may need assistance across meals, transport, allied health and full household support.

The key is working with a chosen provider to identify those decide and then how best to spend that budget package funding. Your service provider coordinates and can manage your services for you on your behalf.

What is a Home Care Package Monthly Statement?

Monthly statements provide transparency and accountability for the use of HCP funding, ensuring clients are aware of how their funds are being used.

The Australian government requires that monthly statements for HCPs include the amount of home care subsidy and fees paid, unspent funds, and a list of care and services provided during the month. This information must be presented in a clear and understandable format. Using a monthly statement template can help make statements easier to understand for care recipients, empowering them to make informed decisions about the use of their package funds. It is important to note that monthly statements must be provided for any month in which home care is provided, even if the person does not receive services or has taken temporary leave.

That’s why Nightingale’s HCP software maintains the latest HCP statement formatting to keep you compliant. All your client’s services, package purchases, care management fees, income tested fees, and travel costs prepared and sent at the click of a button, making it easy for you to meet your obligations.

We are actively working to improve this feature and are proud to be one of two software solutions that offer this service. Our goal is to constantly help home care providers simplify their processes and ensure their clients receive the care and support they need rather than focussing on manual inputs and administrative work.

Less Admin, More Care

Administrative work can be time-consuming and take away from the valuable time you could be spending on delivering high-quality care. That’s why we’ve written this article – to share 5 ways that you can use software to save hours every day on admin.

Rostering

We understand the critical role that effective rostering plays in the disability support industry. Frontline support workers are often employed on a casual basis, making it essential to have a reliable rostering system in place. Managing staff schedules can be complicated, especially in the care sector where balancing the availability and qualifications of carers with clients’ needs and geographic locations can be challenging. However, by using software to automate and help, the process can be streamlined. By having all the necessary information in one program, it becomes easier to match the most suitable team member with each client. Furthermore, the document uploads feature allows for quick review of staff certifications to ensure that they are the best fit.

While rostering can be a time-consuming task, it can be easily automated to help fill shifts and manage break compliance. This automation can greatly enhance the productivity of your rostering team, enabling them to quickly navigate challenges like shift cancellations and calculating support ratios from group services.

However, not all rostering tools are created equal, and many take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to every industry. At Nightingale Software, we know that what works for other sectors may not be suitable for specific support organisations.

Invoicing

The right software is designed to streamline your operations and help you save time. When considering end to end software options for your business, look for a system that integrates timesheets, expenses, scheduling, and accounting, so you can manage invoicing and bookkeeping with ease, without the need for multiple programs or apps.

Our software is specifically designed to handle the complexities of NDIS invoicing, with the latest Price Guide (all 100+ pages of it) synced up and ready to go. We offer digital service agreements to ensure that all line items are in alignment with what your customers have approved for, and our automated pricing and invoicing capabilities allow you to invoice the correct fee for every service, on the day it was completed.

Timesheets

Are you depending on team members to manually record their start and end times for their shifts, which they often do at the end of the day? Is there still a manual approval process in the office where someone compares the recorded hours with the rostered times?

With the right software, the need for staff members to complete a separate timesheet is no longer necessary. Every completed shift, along with any required case notes (as per your internal policies), is automatically transmitted to the payroll system for processing of payments, or to the line management for approval. The flexibility to choose and manage the timesheet process is in your hands. This can lead to more accurate and efficient tracking of employee work hours and make the overall payroll process smoother and hassle-free. Additionally, the automated flow of data can minimise the risk of errors and omissions that can arise with manual entry and processing of timesheets. With such software, you can optimise your work processes, streamline your administrative tasks, and increase productivity.

Client information

Support work is a crucial services that will always require a personal touch. However, there are opportunities to streamline the process using automation while maintaining that one to one connection.

One possible solution is to prompt team members to update their notes on their devices at the end of their shift using an preset workflow. This saves them time by doing updating case notes on the fly rather than having them pile up – it also ensures the information is up-to-date and accurate, preventing delays in invoicing and making it easier to provide customers with the support they need.

Incorporating automation into care services allows companies to provide the best possible care and support to their customers while improving their efficiency. By leveraging technology, companies can still optimise their processes without sacrificing the empathy and personal touch that defines support work.

Incident reporting

Implementing an incident tracking and reporting system with customisable forms and workflows can save hours of time. With the right system in place, issues can be documented easily and with all necessary approval details, resolution steps, and reporting requirements fulfilled within specified timeframes.

The customisable form functionality allows you to tailor the forms to your specific needs and requirements, ensuring that all relevant information is collected upfront. The workflow functionality can automate the approval process, ensuring that all necessary stakeholders are notified and that the proper approvals are obtained in a timely manner. This can save significant time and reduce the risk of delays or missed deadlines.

Contact us today to learn more about how Nightingale can simplify and automate your admin work so you can focus on what matters most – delivering exceptional care.

In October 2022, Telstra Health made a surprising announcement that it will discontinue its support for several software products including Home Care Manager, ComCare, The Care Manager (TCM), and Community Connect. Telstra Home Care was a program designed to provide in-home support for older Australians, allowing them to maintain their independence and remain in their homes. 

As the population continues to age, many individuals require more and more assistance with their daily tasks so naturally, this news has caused disappointment and concern for many aged care providers throughout Australia, leaving many searching for alternative solutions.

That’s where Nightingale Software comes in. We provide a comprehensive home care software solution, enabling seniors and their families to receive the support they need to live safely and comfortably at home. Our software allows for easy scheduling, funding management, care plan coordination and communication between caregivers, families, and healthcare providers.

What is Home Care Software?

Home Care Packages (HCP) provide an affordable means for elderly Australians to obtain assistance with daily living activities from the comfort of their own homes. Specifically tailored for those with intricate care requirements, HCPs offer a coordinated approach to delivering comprehensive care services.  Home care software is a digital solution that simplifies that coordination. It should help roster support, streamline invoicing, manage the HCP funds as well as making it easy for care providers to maintain communication with patients and their families.

What is Nightingale?

Nightingale is a software solution that was designed from the outset to service the consumer directed, individualised funding based sectors. Nightingale was specifically built for this purpose rather than being an all-purpose software that has been ‘shoe horned’ into the Community Sector space.  This dedicated focus of Nightingale on the sector within which At Home Care operates is a key element behind Nightingale’s successful growth path.

What sets us apart?

Two key pillars set the Nightingale solution apart from the rest – implementation and configurability.  

Implementation: Our class-leading, highly-structured, staged implementation process has been highly successful in ensuring our customers go live with minimal disruption and enjoy the efficiencies from our software right away.

Configurability: Although Nightingale can be configured with Nightingales proven standard workflows and settings, we understand that each of our customers have different requirements. From the outset, Nightingale has been intentionally designed to be highly configurable by our customers including many ‘settings’ for workflows, permissions, moderation and more. 

Our software is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for caregivers and care providers to access and update patient information in real-time.   Our solution offers funding, client and staff management to make your operation run smoothly and efficiently.

With the closure of Telstra Home Care, there is a growing need for alternative solutions to support older Australians. Nightingale Software provides an innovative, comprehensive, and easy-to-use home care software solution that allows seniors to receive the support they need to remain safe and comfortable in their homes. Our team is dedicated to supporting the well-being of seniors and their families, providing reliable and efficient software to make their lives easier.