From the Home Manager, Jeannie Carlson

CMS has been a great tool for our care team.  Virtually every member of the team has learned to use it, even those with minimal computer literacy.  There has been a marked improvement in the quality of the daily records and most importantly they are accessible and easy to read.  As a manager, it is a vital tool for tracking and ensuring quality and continuity of care.

The backup from the Ablyss team has also been great.  Over the years we have made several suggestions to the format and information that CMS can hold and all of these have been implemented. 

I would recommend all care homes to introduce   computerized care records, and have no hesitation in recommending Ablyss CMS as a very good tool.

From the IT Manager, David Carlson

  We’ve been using CMS since June 2006 and as the person responsible for maintaining our network I cannot speak highly enough of the support given by the Ablyss team.

They are unfailingly cheerful, friendly and responsive to all manner of requests.  Help with reports, bug fixes, updates come freely and quickly, often within the same day.

I’ve recently installed a Windows Small Business Server and again Ablyss support was able and willing to give the time necessary to make sure CMS was up and running with no disruption to our service.  A phone call was all that was needed.

If all companies would support their software the way Ablyss does I’d look ten years younger!

From the Manager, Rod Tarry

In 2006, we changed our registration to reflect our increasing specialisation in adults under 65 with alcohol-related dementia and related conditions as well as other organic mental health issues. We now care for 32 individuals with alcohol-related dementia, short term memory loss and related conditions at Roberta House and Elizabeth House and we specialise in clients suffering from Korsakov's syndrome.

Due to the highly specialised nature of the care we provide, I did not expect to be able to find a software system that would be able to cater for our needs. CMS put to bed any fears I had about compromising my care needs with the rigidity of a computerised record keeping system. The software was not only easy to use, but could easily be customised to meet my stringent needs.

We have now developed our IT equipment to link our two sites together. From a management point of view we use CMS to analyse events within the home and to ensure that all reviews are kept up to date. Meanwhile, our care staff use state of the art tablets loaded with CMS Touch to quickly and easily update daily care notes, saving us hours of paperwork.

CMS and CMS Touch? Why didn't we do this years ago! Unbelievable!.

From the Manager, Ines Kirby

We are benefiting from our fifth year of using the CMS. This software is easy to use especially for those with minimal computer skills.

Care Plans - Prior to CMS all care plans were handwritten and it was down to individuals to word the content. Therefore, the standard of quality was variable and at times the handwriting made it difficult for staff to follow instructions. CMS care plans look very professional and the Templates ensure a standardised quality for all staff to use. In addition the system allows us to easily include other needs and instructions if needed. Each part of the care plan has all personal details of the resident, which also includes the major health issues and any important Allergies. The evaluation and review of the care needs is very user friendly and gives us a valuable record keeping facility, for both our current and archived residents.

Staff Section - No more numerous books, ring binders etc. This facility allows us to keep a lot of staff records together, with the added bonus that holidays, sickness and training absences are automatically transferred to the rotas. The rota section is excellent. It can be customised to a specific home's requirement e.g. all the different shift patterns, length of breaks and areas to work. This section generates different rotas depending on the status of staff, which for us is essential. The individual records of staff are easily readable and it is a valuable tool in staff management e.g. Sickness record.

Finance for Residents and Home Accounts - This section gives us an accurate account of expenditure for individual residents. It also generates a weekly summary account of all expenditure, which is neatly sectioned for different types of expenditure, e.g. total amount spent on Hairdresser in a given week.

Home Section - The best thing here is the Home Diary. It generates all birthdays, medication reviews and reminders for training, supervision, reviews etc. etc.

The CMS has many more practical and useful benefits. The above are examples of the functions I never would want to be without. How ever did I manage before!!