Beccy Incledon, Community Services Manager from Parkhaven Trust has won ‘Best Use of Digital Technology’ at the Radar Health Care Awards.

Beccy was awarded this accolade for being instrumental in the introduction of truly innovative technology at Parkhaven Trust that’s made a huge positive difference.

The Radar Health Care Awards have been set up to recognise healthcare heroes across the country.

Kim Crowe, Chief Executive at Parkhaven Trust said: “Beccy has gone above and beyond to support Parkhaven Trust in our use and development of the newest technologies to support our service users.

In November 2019, we opened The Beeches – a new residential and nursing service for people with dementia in Merseyside. Four years in the making; the team wanted to have both residential and nursing in the same building to support residents as their dementia progressed.  

At the heart of The Beeches was a desire to use technology to provide the highest quality environment to cater for the needs of people with dementia. Following good practice from the Dementia Design Centre at Stirling University; tools such as circadian lighting; acoustic monitoring and electronic care planning ensure that people are cared for using the latest technology.

Traditionally Parkhaven Trust would do hourly checks on residents during the night. By opening the door and light coming in; residents could be disturbed. Now staff use sound detecting technology; called acoustic monitoring; which listens to sleeping residents. The technology knows what is normal for the individual and will trigger an alert for staff if anything changes. For example; if someone usually snores at night and they stop; it will alert staff who can go in and check on the resident. It means we’re not disturbing people unnecessarily; but we can keep people safe.

We are already seeing the benefits of implementing the technology. We’ve seen falls reduce by half; which is making a huge impact. It gives peace of mind to staff; residents and their families. Technology doesn’t replace great care; but it does give us extra support.

Beccy has been instrumental in the introduction and training of staff to use these new digital methods of caring. She has also been sharing these successes and sharing the learning with other care providers from other care facilities across the UK; through dedicated webinar sessions. She is truly a Digital Champion.” 

Beccy added: “We’re actually the first service in England for people with dementia to have circadian lighting, acoustic monitoring and mobile care planning in a service. This has improved the quality of care that we deliver and the experience of our staff. 

Our staff at Parkhaven Trust are amazing, when we bring in a new technology, they grab it with both hands and hit the ground running. We’re all working towards the same aim – the best quality of care we can offer. I truly believe that you should treat those in your care like you’d want your family to be treated, and let the care come from your heart.”

More about the awards here.

Read Beccy’s full interview with Radar here.

Beccy Incledon with her prize from the Radar Healthcare Awards