mcch case study

As a charity, mcch supports individuals with learning disabilities, autism or mental health needs across London and South East England. mcch believes it is important for everyone to have the opportunity to choose where they live, be meaningfully employed and have a full and fun social life.

mcch provides accommodation services ranging from specialised registered care for people with high levels of need to supporting people in their own homes. They also provide employment and vocational services and social activities.

When mcch wanted to find a client management system to assist its growth and geographic spread, its needs were clear. The system had to:

• measure client outcomes across multiple services
• improve outcomes reporting
• provide a standardised data collection process for support workers
• improve the efficiency of analysis and reporting of service data
• enhance process and workflow of incident, accident and complaints reporting to ensure consistency and a complete organisational view.

mcch knew choosing the right health record system was integral to achieving the challenge of reshaping and modernising services that were created nearly 20 years ago.

mcch wanted a record system with the flexibility to capture and analyse outcomes data across their diverse range of services.

With the organisation spread across multiple regions, mcch found paper-based client records restricted collaboration.  “mcch exists to support people to live life to the fullest…we want efficient, smart systems that enable our staff to focus on people, not paper work," said Peter Thompson, chief executive of mcch.

mcch’s incident, accident and complaints process was based on complex systems where it was difficult to provide an end-to-end organisational view. It wanted to improve and streamline the reporting process to better evaluate and improve services for the future.

mcch also had varied levels of Information Technology (IT) skills among its field staff. It wanted a simple and easy to use system that still provided advanced features to support the organisation’s needs.

Most of the information collected by mcch is of a highly sensitive nature and this highlighted data security as a top priority.

To modernise its services, mcch identified the need for an electronic records system that would enable continued growth and leadership in the UK health sector.

After an extensive search, mcch selected Recordbase from New Zealand health IT specialist Wild Bamboo. As the chosen solution, Recordbase was able to offer mcch what it needed in a software system: flexibility, reliability and comprehensive compliance reports.

Being a non-government organisation itself, Wild Bamboo understood the challenges faced by mcch when it came to reporting and outcomes.

Wild Bamboo’s Recordbase resonated with mcch; not only as a people-focused solution but as a system that aligned with its mission to improve people’s lives.

Cost was an important consideration for mcch. Because Recordbase is a ‘cloud based’ service, it allows organisations to access their data through a secure web portal on the internet. As a web-based service, Recordbase is charged at an affordable monthly fee allowing a smooth rollout across the organisation without the need for any expensive set-up or equipment costs.

Because it is web-based, Recordbase provides easy access to information regardless of where mcch staff are based. And the fact Recordbase has the same security levels as online banking assures confidentiality. Marjorie Brown, head of performance at mcch, says “We’re already seeing the benefits of recording all details of the people we support in one location”.

mcch also wanted a software solution that was proven in the health sector. Wild Bamboo services many other similar organsiations, supporting more than 20,000 individuals with its Recordbase products.

Any concern mcch may have had about Wild Bamboo being a New Zealand-based location was laid to rest, as Wild Bamboo staff were onsite during key phases of the project. Wild Bamboo staff were with mcch for the initial planning, staff training and deployment phases. Key mcch staff were also trained as ‘user champions’ to provide peer support to their colleagues, backed up by the Wild Bamboo team which are always available for advanced support requirements.

The simplicity of Recordbase has minimised support demands, even for less IT-savvy users, and the time zone differences have proven an advantage with any required system changes being easily done outside business hours.

Being able to effortlessly add outcomes assessment tools and generate sophisticated reporting and analysis through the Recordbase Elite module crystalised mcch’s decision to select Recordbase software from Wild Bamboo.

After experiencing the exciting possibilities of Recordbase first-hand, mcch is aiming to implement the solution across its entire organisation by September 2011, and is now planning to go one step further. mcch is working with Wild Bamboo to better measure the progress of individuals in its service using the outcomes assessment toolsets in Recordbase Elite.

With the powerful functionality of Recordbase Elite, mcch can capture invaluable correlations between its outcomes and service activity with sophisticated reporting tools that will prove the worth of the diverse services it offers and help it shape its future services.

mcch also plans to make full use of new Recordbase features, which are continually tested and released by the Wild Bamboo development team.

The latest features include:

• a supported employment module which is based on the internationally recognised IPS (Individual Placement & Support) methodology
• myRecord, a secure self-service portal allowing individuals in care access to their own health records anytime, anywhere.

For more information about how Wild Bamboo's Recordbase could transform your organisation contact us today.