SPriNT celebrates 5th annual User Group Conference
Swansea Young Single Homeless Project go live with SPriNT
Monmouthshire Housing Association sign up to SPriNT
Welsh Assembly Government Outcomes Monitoring Report with SPriNT
Monmouthshire County Council and Caerphilly County Borough Council sign up to the SPriNT Commissioner Provider Module
Report on SPriNT in the Welsh Assembly Government’s Independent Review of the Supporting People Programme in Wales
Solas Cymru invest in digital pen technology
SPriNT team win Housing Heroes award
SPriNT is awarded WLGA Excellence in Wales Partner Status
The 5th annual SPriNT User Group Conference was held at Techniquest Science Discovery Centre in Cardiff on 14th November 2011.
The event is run by the SPriNT Steering Group – a group of SPriNT user organisations who help decide on the direction the software is taking and enhancements to be made each year.
The event provides a forum for SPriNT users to get together to learn about each other’s experiences, network and vote on enhancements.
Presentations were made by
· Torfaen and Newport Councils about the new outcomes reporting requirements
· Pennaf about their experiences with the Digital Pen
· Torfaen County Borough Council about developing the Commissioners Module
· and Tai Esgyn about bespoke modifications
Representatives from Solas Cymru and Pennaf ran the voting session in the afternoon and announced the winners of the raffles for a Kindle and an iPod shuffle.
Feedback was very positive about a well-organised and useful event and everyone agreed the Techniquest Centre was a fantastic venue with the opportunity to play on the interactive facilities and musical instruments during the breaks!
Swansea Young Single Homeless Project (SYSHP) provide a range of housing and support services for young people aged between 16 and 25. They have been implementing and receiving training for SPriNT and went live in July 2011.
Liz Slade, Director of SYSHP, explained that before implementing SPriNT they were using spread sheets to record their support data, which they found difficult to manage. “Different people would input different names for support needs that would then make reporting difficult, it was then very time consuming gathering the data. Using SPriNT means the data has a more uniform and consistent feel, for example by using drop downs instead of typing in the words. This saves time not only for entering the data, but in particular when gathering the data for reporting.”
Liz also said that a lot of time is being saved by being able to manage projects from a central point, she said, “A manager can check out information online, rather than travel to the project to look at the paperwork. I can do the background work without the leg work.”
Liz feels that using SPriNT means that they are working more professionally. They have found the outcomes element particularly useful by the varied reports they can pull up, for example by project and by organisation not just by the individual. Liz said, “This enables us to ask more questions about our services, we can dig deeper and add quality assurance. Overall, this means that we can improve our performance.”
Monmouthshire Housing Association are in the process of installing SPriNT software to record their Supporting People data.
Their main reasons for choosing to use SPriNT are to:
· streamline administration
· use staff time more effectively
· find the relevant information quicker for people in support
· help to see they are doing a good job by measuring outcomes
Neil Binnell, Housing Support Manager at Monmouthshire Housing Association said “We look forward to using SPriNT to manage our staff time more effectively and improve our analysis of outcomes.”
Neil visited Monmouthshire County Council to see the software in use and was impressed with how they used the software to manage their Supporting People data, in particular how they deal with referrals, analyse outcomes and run reports.
Richard Troote, Head of Information Services at Cadarn Housing Group, said “It is great to have Monmouthshire Housing Association on board. We look forward to working with them and using the software to help them save considerable administration time and help better measure outcomes.”
Monmouthshire Housing Association was established in 2008 to receive the housing stock of Monmouthshire County Council. They offer a Support service to help their customers live as independently as possible in their community.
Monmouthshire County Council and Caerphilly County Borough Council have joined Torfaen County Borough Council by signing up to the SPriNT Commissioner Provider Module which will enable them to pass data between two databases. Therefore the Commissioners will be able to transfer data such as referrals to the providers who have their own SPriNT database and then the providers will be able to click a button to transfer data such as assessments and support plans directly from their database to their commissioners.
The module was commissioned for development by Torfaen County Borough Council in December 2010.
In November 2010 the Final Report was published on the Independent Review of the Supporting People Programme in Wales commissioned by Jocelyn Davies AM, Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration for the Welsh Assembly Government.
The SPriNT database software was mentioned in the section titled ‘Database’, extract below:
Database
“The SPriNT database software has been well received by support workers and we have found that using it has saved us time and therefore improved our service to clients. Our records are now better organised and reports are easier to produce for commissioners. We are happy with the software and feel it was a positive and worthwhile move forward in our work.”
Kirstie Pavey, Statistics and Website Co-ordinator, Welsh Women’s Aid
The Welsh Assembly Government funded a not for profit organisation to develop a database to collect outcomes. The Supporting People Information Technology Network is a web-based system which can be accessed from any computer including hand held devices. It is now providing the software and support to a third of support workers across Wales. It is used by six Local Authorities and a range of Housing Associations and providers throughout Wales. Support workers can collect service user data for easy and quick direct input into a database. The database can then provide timely data to the provider organisation and in some areas this can also be accessed by the Local Authority. The Local Authority can then have timely information to inform planning without the need to travel to each project. Another recent development being used in some areas is an electronic pen which means as the support worker records the outcomes with the service user and the information is entered directly to the database, without the need to input twice or spend long periods of time returning to base to input data. The data in some areas is being held in a wider area database, as it is routinely in England, so larger area evaluations can be done by the Local Authority. Although this is not currently done at a national level in Wales database providers concurred this would be a feasible task. Local Authorities who have invested in the software and switched to outcomes based monitoring report considerable cost savings, especially in staff time and travel expenses.
The full report can be accessed via the following link: http://wales.gov.uk/topics/housingandcommunity/housing/supportingpeople/supportedreview/finalreport/?lang=en
Solas Cymru has joined Pennaf and Drive by investing in Anoto Digital Pens for their employees to use alongside their Sprint software packages.
This technology will allow Solas employees to instantly transfer information from hand written Support Plans to their SPriNT database without the need to type up the information, thus saving considerable time.
Following research with support workers and managers from across the country Cadarn Information Services has worked with Accelero Digital Solutions Ltd to integrate their PCPen application, which incorporates the Anoto Digital Pen and Paper technology, into SPriNT.
This technology works due to a miniature hidden camera inside the Digital Pen, all pen strokes, including signatures, are captured and can be converted to both images and text. To extract the data the pen is connected to a computer using a docking station or sent using Bluetooth via a mobile phone. At a touch of a button the handwritten text is converted to typed text and saved to the relevant fields on the database.
The Digital Pen reduces the need for training as it is simple to use. This is particularly beneficial in sectors such as health, social work and support because a large percentage of the staff in these sectors have less experience with computers. Due to the low training requirements, additional cost implications for organisations investing in the pen are minimal.
Solas Cymru provide a range of high quality accommodation and support services for a range of people from young persons, care leavers, families, ex-offenders and people with complex needs across South East Wales.
Rhian Stone, Corporate Director at Solas Cymru said, “The Digital Pen is the best type of technology we have seen to improve efficiencies in support work. It saves a vast amount of time by recording the information directly to our database. The team is very enthusiastic and looking forward to working with the pens. This new technology will allow us to become a more efficient and happier workforce.”
Richard Troote, Head of Cadarn Information Services said, “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Solas Cymru through their investment in the digital pen technology. Solas are a forward-thinking organisation and have often benefited from early adoption of technology. Their employees will be able to see an instant benefit by the increase in free time to spend on their core service in supporting people. This investment will allow many more people to receive the vital services that Solas Cymru provides and we are proud to be able to support them in achieving this.”
The Cadarn Housing Group’s IT team had good cause for celebration when they were awarded the title of IT Team of the Year at the 2010 Housing Heroes Awards ceremony in London.
The 2010 Housing Heroes Awards, run by the Chartered Institute of Housing and Inside Housing, attracted over 300 entries and the winners were announced by adventurer and TV presenter Ben Fogle.
The team’s recognition is the result of the development of Cadarn’s SPriNT software which supplies over 60 organisations, and 3500 users, affordable management of their Supporting People information and reporting.
Richard Troote, Cadarn’s Head of Information Services said, “this award is recognition of the vision of the Cadarn Board in supporting this venture from the start and the hard work and commitment of colleagues and partners in delivering a successful product that assists in the delivery of support services to vulnerable people.”
SPriNT are proud to announce that we are recipients of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) Excellence in Wales Partner Status award with Monmouthshire County Council for work on their Gateway system for referrals.
Monmouthshire County Council used SPriNT to record information such as referrals, risk and needs assessments and outcomes with Supporting People groups they are working with.
The award was received by Richard Troote, Head of Information Services at Cadarn Housing Group, the makers of SPriNT.