Alocura has been at the forefront of making personalised care work effectively for many years, our experienced management team developing care administration systems and services for commissioners, care providers and individuals. In that time we’ve prioritised understanding the intricacies of the personalised care market and the challenges faced by local authorities and the NHS. Which are ever changing! So, what are the solutions?
At Alocura we have addressed the growing concerns around oversight and transparency in budget management, while maintaining the choice and control that is so important in these settings. And one of those solutions is Rostrata, our groundbreaking, end-to-end cloud based platform for care commissioners, providers and individuals. It was developed primarily as a response to the the realisation that even though we are 20 years into the personalisation agenda, we still have very little – and sometimes no – knowledge of what budgets are spent on.
That was fine when those budgets were less than £5k a year, but following the 2015 Care Act and the drive to personalise community health care by the NHS, budgets have grown immeasurably.
The complexity of managing a £300k budget is completely different to that of managing a £5k budget, but processes haven’t kept pace. Alocura, through Rostrata and other services, is all about providing solutions that ensure transparency and efficiency, while enhancing the quality of care, but importantly, within a responsible and affordable financial framework.
Starting with the individual’s NHS number, Rostrata administers care plans through rostering, timesheets, payroll, budget checks and management reports. It provides commissioners and care providers with the desktop oversight they need to drive efficiencies, improve care quality outcomes, spot potential safeguarding issues and audit budgets… all from the desktop.
Yet we understand the worry that systems like ours will impact on the choice and control for those receiving care. Our commitment is that choice and control is at the forefront of our thinking. With Rostrata, you can both ensure that every pound is accounted for and be confident that funds allocated for care are used effectively – while still focusing on the autonomy of the individual.
And meanwhile, those responsible for managing these budgets can do so with confidence and clarity. This is important because of the range of issues we uncover with largely unaudited yet high-value personalised care budgets not only affect the financial integrity of care provision, but also compromise the quality and safety of care.
Currently, oversight is often carried out through manual audits, with bank statements being reviewed on a small percentage of budgets. This process is not only labour-intensive and costly, it is ineffective as well. Given the growing complexity and size of budgets, manual audits simply cannot provide the level of transparency and control required.
Rostrata is the only system currently available which gives commissioners and providers alike this full oversight. At any point, using the open book that Rostrata enables, anyone in the process should be able to see how care packages are performing.
That’s why we are working with our partners to encourage such common systems for local authorities and providers, putting in place policies, terms and conditions, procurement, and contract management from the top down. It creates the platform for local authorities to achieve the required oversight – but also enabling the kind of better quality, longer term care outcomes which ultimately lead to efficiencies for providers, too.
We are not just offering a system with Rostrata; we are providing a solution that addresses the root causes of inefficiency and lack of oversight in budget management. By championing a system-down approach, we’re bringing about a fundamental shift in how care can and should be delivered and managed.