Recipes for local authority success: top takeaways from the latest edition of In Flight

The public sector funds about 70% of domiciliary care provision here in the UK. When local authority tenders become less about person-centred care and more about rock-bottom prices, this puts the whole homecare sector at risk. There’s work to be done, and conversations to be reframe,  if local authority contracts are to be financially sustainable and commercially viable for UK homecare providers.

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That’s the focus of this month’s edition of In Flight magazine from Birdie. Keep reading for the highlights of this issue: the key takeaways of how to transform your local authority relationships by keeping the conversation focused on value and quality, rather than lowest-possible price. And download the full magazine for more expert insights, templates, and actions you can put into action today.

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Quick tips from Birdie partners: how to transform your local authority relationships in 90 days

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1. Identify your local authority stakeholders

The procurement team is just one local authority stakeholder. Transforming your local authority relationships means engaging with people from across the local authority landscape: senior commissioners, contract managers, social workers, local councillors on health an social care committees, and so on.

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“We have to keep pushing at the national level and locally," says Roger Brooker, Chief Executive at Care Santé. And identifying your national and local stakeholders, and understanding their pains and gains, is a crucial first step.

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2. Educate local authorities on the true cost of care

If your local authority is demanding unsustainable rates, they might not fully understand the true cost of care. For example, they might assume that any agency fees above a carer’s minimum wage immediately becomes profit (even if we all know that’s far from being true!).

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Do what you can to explain the true cost of care: the sum of direct carer costs, travel costs, operational support, business overheads, compliance and quality assessment, and a sustainable margin for reinvestment.

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Once local authorities are clear on how much quality care costs to deliver, you have the foundation for a conversation around sustainable rates.

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3. Create a provider alliance

One voice, from one homecare provider, may struggle to turn the tide. Fragmentation in the sector “allows local authorities to call the shots” explains Chris Doherty, Founder and Managing Director of Healthvision. But an alliance or forum of local care providers can put forward a compelling case, using shared data and shared care calculations to express the need for fairer rates.

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Download the full digital copy of In Flight magazine for tips on how to start your local provider alliance.

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4. Build your quality evidence pack

Objective and verifiable data helps prove your agency’s worth, and becomes a vital negotiation tool if, or when, a local authority questions your rates. Worried this will create more work for you and your team? Don’t be. The right homecare technology will help you work smarter, not just harder, building a quality evidence pack for your agency in seconds.

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As Katie Wordley, CEO at Eleanor Care, recommends: "Show tangible outcomes with data – your Q-Score and Pulse Dashboards, [the rest of] Birdie Analytics – tools that help quantify the impact." We cover three ways to prove your care quality with Birdie in the section below.

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5. Reframe one conversation

Every meeting is a chance to change minds. Transforming your local authority relationships may feel like a big mission, but if you break it down into smaller steps and single conversations, it all starts to feel more manageable.

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“Where I’ve seen success is when we frame the conversation around quality rather than price,”says Katie Wordley. Before meeting with the local authority, consider your shared goals and how your agency’s high-quality care will help the local authority achieve its objectives.

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Then, be ready to show your true cost of care calculations and quality evidence data to drive a conversation about the impact of quality care and the investment that requires.

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3 datapoints that prove your value in local authority tenders (and beyond)

We mentioned data and gathering your quality care evidence pack above, but what does this look like in practice? It’s easy in Birdie. Birdie Analytics quickly surfaces insights and evidence with 50+ pre-built data reports and speedy custom report generation.

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When it comes to illustrating your value to local authorities, three meaningful metrics could be:

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1. Scheduled visit completion - Use Birdie’s Visit Verification Report to confirm how many scheduled care visits have taken place. A high completion rate demonstrates your agency’s reliability, trustworthiness, and dedication to quality, person-centred care.
2. Medication administration accuracy - Digital eMAR charts in Birdie evidence safety and best practice. Faced with paper-thin margins and the need to limit costs, some care providers let care quality slip. A clear and consistent record of medicines administered, when and by who, creates a compelling point of difference for your quality-focused agency.
3. Average response times - Does speed set your agency apart? The Birdie Alert Responsiveness Report illustrates the total number of alerts raised, how quickly they’re responded to, and what percentage of alerts are resolved within 24 hours. Again, this kind of turnaround isn’t possible with too few staff or staff who are stretched too thin. This data can help support your case for sustainable local authority rates.

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Emily Smith, Birdie partner and Head of Care at Christies Care says, “Prior to Birdie being introduced, it was very difficult to get that oversight of the quality of care being delivered. With Birdie, there’s so much information available to us, from the analytical point of view, but also there’s data and notes that we can drill down into”.

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Get a demo of Birdie’s smart homecare technology for free, or check out the full magazine here.

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