Ask our practitioner: using Just Checking to support outcome focused work

Using Just Checking we are able to provide information about an individual’s movement around the home, over a designated number of days or weeks, and covering the full 24 hours of each day. This allows practitioners to understand what everyday life looks like for an individual without external influences. Used in conjunction with other methods of information gathering, the Just Checking system ensures assessments are proportionate and objective.

This objectivity can help practitioners to, more confidently, make recommendations about what care an individual should be receiving; making sure that they are not over or under supporting an individual, and ensuring that high cost packages of care are only provided when required.

To give an example:
I recently worked with a gentleman with learning disabilities and early onset dementia. His support worker was concerned that he was walking around the property at night. As his bedroom is on the first floor, they were worried that he might fall downstairs and suggested that he might be better suited in a residential care home with a waking night staff team who could check on him throughout the night.

Before any decisions were made, a Just Checking system was installed to further understand the situation.

Reviewing his Just Checking charts did indeed show that he was unsettled at night, although the charts identified that he was not leaving his bedroom. With the immediate safety concerns alleviated, we shared his chart information with his nurse and psychiatrist. After a slight adjustment to his medication, we monitored his Just Checking chart to observe any changes.

After approximately two weeks, the chart demonstrated that the change in medication had resulted in a more consistent sleep pattern and the gentlemen was now waking more rested.

This is a perfect example of how the Just Checking system objectively evaluated the situation and identified the appropriate level of care required. The system alleviated conjectural concerns and the need for this gentleman to move to a residential home. Not only would this move have required a higher cost package of care for the funding authority, but it would have been unnecessarily disorientating and unsettling for the gentlemen.

Modern assessment support services, such as Just Checking, are an ideal way of supporting practitioners and local authorities in providing objective, evidence based assessments. However, local authorities need to ensure they are making the best choices when selecting which support services they use. Training and partnership with companies that support them should be a major consideration in their decision making process. This will ensure the best service is being delivered.