Every feature we develop begins with a deeper understanding of care home operations. To truly support care homes, we believe it’s important to understand the full context of the world they operate in. That’s why the CoolCare team recently came together for our second Domain Knowledge Conference (DKC II), spending the day learning directly from care providers and operational leaders.
The session focused on one of the biggest challenges facing the sector – workforce. More specifically, we explored how care providers can create greater control while balancing staffing pressures, rising costs, quality expectations and the needs of residents.
Far from being simply a discussion about rotas, the event helped our team understand how workforce decisions affect almost every part of a care home, from safety and compliance to profitability, employee experience and future growth.
Here’s an overview of the session, including some of the insights and key takeaways.
why understanding the workforce matters to coolcare.
Workforce is not simply one part of a care home’s operation. In many ways, it is the operating model.
Care homes need enough skilled people in the right place, at the right time, to provide safe and high-quality care. However, staffing is also the largest controllable cost for many providers and cannot always be adjusted easily when occupancy or resident needs change.
The rota is only the starting point. The true complexity appears when the plan meets the realities of daily care home life – sickness, holidays, late arrivals, unfilled shifts, agency decisions, changing dependency levels and payroll corrections.
Understanding these pressures helps us create software that genuinely responds to what managers and care teams face each day. It also enables us to look beyond individual features and consider how workforce, occupancy, finance and quality are all connected.
exploring the current care market.
The day began with an overview of the care market from Matt Lowe, who discussed the pressures and opportunities facing providers.
Investment and consolidation are continuing to change the way care organisations operate, while the growth of management company structures means leadership efficiency, operational visibility and access to meaningful data are becoming increasingly important.
At the same time, tighter margins and pressure on capital spending mean providers must find ways to work more efficiently, whether they operate in the private-pay market or deliver predominantly local authority-funded care.
Technology and data are becoming a greater part of this environment. Regulators are increasingly looking for clear evidence and pathways, rather than relying solely on conversations about how services are being managed.
However, the key takeaway from the session was that the sector does not need technology for technology’s sake. It needs tools that create time, visibility and confidence, helping leaders act before operational problems become crises.
seeing the scale of workforce administration.
Our internal CoolCare briefing helped demonstrate the scale of workforce activity taking place across the care homes using our software.
The session referenced 17.9 million staff clocking records across CoolCare in 2026, averaging around 50,000 clocking events each day across 253 customer groups.
We also looked at how features such as Snap-to-Shift can help care providers strengthen control over time and attendance. Sixty per cent of shifts were adjusted using the feature, with an average change of 37 minutes per snapped shift.
Shift requests provided another example of how technology can reduce manual administration. An average of 257 requests were made per care home, with an estimated saving of 17 hours of management time each month when those requests were handled through CoolCare rather than through phone calls, messages and manual processes.
learning from a care provider’s experience.
Hayley Robertson, CEO of St Martin’s Care, brought the realities of care delivery to life through a fireside discussion about operating local authority-funded services in areas of socioeconomic challenge in the North East.
Her contribution demonstrated how good intentions and a commitment to residents must be supported by strong systems and effective cost control. Human error and limited financial visibility can have a serious impact on a provider’s sustainability, even when managers are working hard to deliver the best possible care.
Hayley described care providers as “people people”, rather than “system people”. While the pandemic accelerated digital adoption across the sector, introducing technology successfully still requires training, trust and a clear explanation of how it will benefit staff and residents.
A straightforward system can make a significant difference, but only when people understand why they are using it and feel confident doing so. Digital adoption cannot simply be expected – providers need to bring their teams with them.
Hayley also shared examples of social care’s ability to respond quickly and practically to challenges. After St Martin’s Care introduced lifting cushions within its homes, hospital admissions following falls were reduced by 81%.
The example highlighted the positive impact that practical innovation can have for residents, care teams and the wider health system.
creating an environment where people stay.
Recruitment and retention were key themes throughout DKC II.
Hayley explained that St Martin’s Care does not have a recruitment problem as much as it has a retention problem. Bringing people into care is only the beginning – providers must also give talented and committed employees reasons to stay.
St Martin’s Care has introduced initiatives including profit sharing, health and wellbeing support, enhanced overtime payments, internal bank staff, training pathways and opportunities for employees to develop into nursing roles.
Technology cannot solve structural recruitment and retention challenges by itself. However, it can help create the conditions for a more stable and supportive workplace.
Clearer rotas, fewer payroll corrections, better communication and less time spent manually chasing shift cover can reduce avoidable pressure. A care home that feels organised and well managed can provide a better working experience for its employees, allowing them to focus more of their time and energy on residents.
understanding what good control looks like.
A panel discussion with Kristian Horbain and Keely Fox translated the day’s themes into the practical realities of care home operations.
Keely discussed control from the perspective of supporting individual homes, maintaining visibility of staffing numbers and strengthening communication between care teams and senior leaders.
She challenged the idea of “head office” as a command-and-control function, instead describing a central support team whose role is to help each home gain greater control of its own operation.
Kristian approached the topic from the perspective of leadership, scale and growth. He explained that good control begins with humility – being honest about the current position and using the right indicators to identify where support or intervention is required.
The panel discussed several useful indicators, including overdue appraisals and supervisions, staff leavers, care quality information, occupancy changes and enquiry progress.
However, no single figure can tell the whole story. Good control comes from recognising patterns across people, quality, occupancy and financial performance, then knowing where to look more closely.
balancing data with human judgement.
The panel also highlighted the risk of collecting data without using it meaningfully.
One example involved a maintenance checklist being completed perfectly while a large weed continued to grow beside the front door. The system suggested everything was under control, but the real-world environment showed otherwise.
This captured the risk of data blindness: having access to more information without applying observation, experience and judgement.
More dashboards do not automatically create more control. Data must be purposeful and help care teams understand what is changing, where attention is needed and how they should respond.
The best technology does not replace human judgement. It removes repetitive administration and makes important information easier to understand, giving managers more time to look, listen and act.
embedding workforce knowledge into our work.
The discussions throughout DKC II reinforced that recruitment, retention, agency use, payroll, occupancy, quality and manager workload cannot be considered in isolation.
CoolCare cannot claim to solve every structural workforce challenge facing the care sector. Our role is to simplify the operational complexity surrounding those challenges.
By improving rota visibility, reducing manual work, highlighting agency reliance and helping managers access clearer information, we can support care homes in creating safer, calmer and more sustainable working environments.
The event also helped us consider how reporting can become more useful. Instead of simply giving customers more data to export, technology should help identify patterns, highlight unusual activity and support practical action.
These insights will influence how we develop our products, support our customers and communicate the value of effective care home administration.
learning that helps us build better products.
The value of DKC II goes beyond a single event. Every discussion helps us understand our customers more clearly and make better decisions about the tools and support we provide.
When we understand the pressures care providers face from filling shifts and managing costs to retaining employees and maintaining quality, we can respond with software that genuinely makes their working lives easier.
Because the best care technology should never add another layer of noise.
It should give care teams more time, greater visibility and the confidence to focus on what matters most to their people and their residents.
To learn more about how CoolCare can transform your operations, speak to one of our care management experts or visit our website for more information.
