Based in Norwich, Norvic Healthcare is a rapidly growing homecare agency supporting around 350 individuals with a team of 200 care professionals. Providing a wide range of services - from general home support to palliative and learning disability care - they deliver over 18,000 hours of care a week.

When Norvic Healthcare won a major new local authority contract, they needed to urgently onboard 26 new service users. At the exact same time, they were due for a critical PAMMS inspection, a local authority audit closely mirroring CQC standards.

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This created a perfect storm. Previously, care plans often took most of a day to complete to a high standard, with initial meetings taking up to three hours. Juggling dozens of new care packages while prepping for a major inspection would have left the team overwhelmed with paperwork.

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Norvic had tried using external AI tools to help write care plans, but moving the data into the care plan limited their efficiency, requiring extra work to manually double-check and then copy-and-paste.

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To handle the surge in new business without compromising quality, Norvic Healthcare rolled out SmartPlans - Birdie’s AI-powered care assessment tool - to their assessment team.

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During an initial consultation, SmartPlans records the conversation with a care recipient. It then transcribes the conversation and automatically suggests answers to be placed directly into the assessment in Birdie. The care manager simply needs to review and confirm each answer.

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Will Epps, Assistant Operations Manager at Norvic Healthcare, noticed the immediate impact on relationship building. “We can make eye contact and be more interactive in conversation. They know what is being written down because it's all recorded,” he says.

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A 100% increase in productivity

‍Assessment meetings dropped from three hours to just one, and office write-up time was halved. “It’s definitely doubled our efficiency,” says Will. “We had 20 care plans done in a week using SmartPlans - which wouldn't have been possible before.”

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Inspection-ready and confident

‍During a PAMMS or CQC inspection, auditors look for up-to-date, highly person-centred care plans, as well as regular field spot checks. By saving hours on typing, the management team had the time to go out into the community to conduct the supervisions required for compliance.

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“It’s been quite a nice shift from fighting all the paperwork to actually finishing care plans on time and then being able to improve care delivery,” Will explains. “It’s kept us on track despite having double the amount of staff and clients.”

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Richer care plans for larger packages

Because assessors no longer have to selectively type notes to save time, the resulting care plans are much more comprehensive – a crucial factor for larger care packages that require up to four visits a day. Historically, sections like administrative or psychological needs were sparse: now they are deeply detailed. The tool also captures daily specifics, noticeably reducing out-of-hours phone calls from care professionals asking where items are located.

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Working smarter, not harder

‍Today, Norvic Healthcare's assessors now rely on SmartPlans for every new visit. Using Birdie’s SmartPlan has allowed the agency to take on a sizeable new local authority contract and double assessment efficiency, all without needing to increase administrative headcount.

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As Will puts it: “We're still quite a small team compared to others despite the hours we deliver. We've learned how to work smarter, not harder really. SmartPlans took the weight off our shoulders.”

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