Reducing a Care Package from 43 to 37 hours per week using the VENDLET V5S – a Case Study with Southwark Council
Case Study at a Glance
By implementing the VENDLET Patient Turning System, Southwark Council were able to reduce the care package for service user Bill* from 43 hours to 37 hours per week. This was all whilst improving the quality of his care – as the VENDLET system enabled both formal and informal carers to carry out moving & handling tasks quicker, with less physical stress and anxiety.
*Name changed for privacy
The Challenge: Carer Pain and Inadequate Moving & Handling Equipment
The service user Bill has advanced dementia. He is 5’ 10” tall and weighs 12 stone. Due to his low muscle tone, Bill is unable to assist with the moving and positioning of his arms or legs, so he is very heavy to turn and mobilise.
Bill was bed-bound and had a double-handed care package which included 3 visits a day. The carers were not always arriving together, so if one carer was not present care tasks could not commence – resulting in wasted time and frustration for Bill and his next of kin.
There was also a lack of acknowledgement from Bill’s next of kin of the strain that the carers were experiencing, resulting in a poor relationship between the carers and the client’s next of kin. This meant that the carers were experiencing very stressful situations when caring for Bill, hindering them from delivering the level of care required in the required timeframe.
The carers needed to reposition Bill in bed, insert a sling under him and transfer him to his wheelchair. A mobile hoist and slide sheets were in place, but these were not providing enough assistance to the carers. As a result, the carers were experiencing back and joint pain due to the force they were still having to exert in order to move and position Bill.
House adaptions (a through-floor lift and hoist tracking) planned to help Bill get about were on hold due to not having a workable solution to the problems outlined above, rendering these adaptions pointless until an in bed moving & handling solution was found.
The solution: Implementing the VENDLET Patient Turning System
To solve these moving & handling challenges, the VENDLET V5S Patient Turning System was installed onto Bill’s bed.
The VENDLET has vastly improved Bill’s quality of life and solved the moving & handling challenges for both his formal and informal carers, making their task easier. It has provided a means to implement a holistic solution that looked at and improved each facet of Bill’s care – from in bed care to moving around the house.
What is the VENDLET?The VENDLET is an innovative patient turning system that is revolutionising how caregivers carry out in-bed moving & handling tasks for those with limited mobility. At the touch of a button, the VENDLET system allows just one caregiver to reposition a client in bed – with minimal manual handling effort.
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The Impact and Results: Better Care in Less Time
The VENDLET system now facilitates all the in-bed positioning tasks and transfers to and from bed, removing the manual effort of the handling tasks. As a result, the physical strain on the carers’ joints and backs is removed, allowing them to deliver better care in less time. And because the VENDLET can be operated by a single carer, if one of the carers is running late the other carer can make a start on the care tasks – making better use of care time and removing the frustration.
By providing a solution for inserting and removing a sling, the VENDLET has also enabled Bill to benefit from the house adaptions that were installed shortly after. Using the VENDLET in combination with the hoist system, the carers are now able to take Bill to the bathroom. This means they can carry out the personal care in a much more thorough and dignified manner, rather than having to wash him in bed as previously.
Bill’s next of kin are also now able to manage some of the moving & handling tasks themselves – single-handedly – meaning they can help care for Bill in addition to the care visits every day.
The Cost Savings
The carer time spent on Bills care package before the VENDLET was installed was 43 hours per week. Using the national average carer cost of £16.50 per hour, we can calculate the projected cost savings*.
Bill’s care package before the VENDLET;
- 2 carers, 43 hours (total) per week: £1419.00 per week
Bill’s care package with the VENDLET
Installing the VENDLET enabled the carers to deliver better care in less time, reducing the care package to 37 hours per week.
- 2 carers, 37 hours (total) per week: £1221.00 per week
- A time saving of 6 hours per week
- A cost saving of £198 per week
- This means the VENDLET paid for itself in 35 weeks
- In the first 12 months, Southwark Council would save £3,366 after paying off the VENDLET
- Over 5 years, they would save £44,550 on this care package
*We do not have access to the accurate costings for Bill’s care package. However, using the national average, we can forecast the projected savings.
How much could you save on your Care Packages?See for yourself how much you could save on your care packages by implementing the VENDLET patient turning system with our Cost Benefit Calculator. Simply input your current details and the calculator will determine your projected savings and ROI. You can then download this in a helpful PDF.
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Learnings and Conclusions
By implementing the VENDLET Patient Turning System, Southwark Council and the carers were able to;
- Remove the manual strain from in-bed care tasks
- Improve working conditions for the carers, greatly reducing stress and the risk of musculoskeletal injury
- Enable the carers to take Bill to the bathroom for personal care, leading to much more thorough and dignified personal care
- Enable the next of kin to take on some of the moving & handling tasks and be more involved in Bill’s care
- Reduce the care package from 43 hours per week to 37 hours per week, saving 6 hours of care time per week – with the resulting cost savings – whilst delivering better care
And click here to find out more about the VENDLET Patient Turning System family