A sector transformed: Lessons for Care Homes from Covid-19

We are pleased to share Barclays Corporate Banking’s latest thought leadership report where an array of experts discuss the changing face of the care home sector, plus the major benefits of new innovations being introduced. Although the pandemic is still with us, the majority of care homes have changed for the better from a connectivity, agility and knowledge perspective.

Key highlights from the report

• The biggest shift in the care home sector’s technology use has been in the wholesale adoption of video meeting platforms, which soared by 65% in the first 12 months of the pandemic.

• Nine in 10 social care staff don’t believe workers get the recognition they deserve, according to the IHSCM survey. Significantly, the wider public is of the same mind in this respect: 86% of all respondents agreed.

• This year, Barclays Digital Eagles digital adoption programme (working closely with the government’s NHSX digital transformation programme), aims to help 5,000 care homes master skills that range far beyond the use of email and social media for residents.

The care home sector is an extraordinarily robust and adaptable one. The pandemic has been the ultimate stress-test for those qualities, as homes took a battering on multiple fronts. The pandemic is far from over, and the recovery – on a personal and a business level – will take time. But the very fact that, unlike many other sectors, care homes continued to provide their vital services throughout this dark time is an indicator of how robust they are. This report seeks to provide some inspiration as operators build on these changes to serve their communities in the years ahead.