FRONTLINE care staff in the Borders will be given iPhones to access new technology during home visits.

At a meeting of the full council on Thursday last week, elected members voted through plans to implement the first phase of a new digital system.

The TotalMobile technology will allow carers to access care plans and keep track of scheduling.

David Robertson, Scottish Borders Council's executive director for finance and regulatory services, said: "In terms of the devices, the intention is to give each of our care workers a smartphone.

"We plan to use an Apple iPhone SE to give them the technology they need to fully utilise this new development.

"They will be able to communicate effectively with central systems and management. There will be full scheduling and rostering on the device. People will be able to confirm when they arrive at a visit, when they leave from a visit.

"They will be able to track the delivery of care and how often people are being visited etc.

"This will not only benefit the client, but it will benefit the member of staff in terms of the whole issue around lone working.

"Staff do have devices at the moment, but the enhancement to use Apple technology, fully integrated with TotalMobile, we think will be a major step forward."

The council says the six-year project will be funded as part of its £34m investment budget, which was agreed when it signed a contract extension with Canadian IT company CGI in September 2020.

A report estimated "net financial benefits of over £368k can be anticipated from 2022/23 following implementation of this change programme" and that "full costs, including implementation costs, will be recovered by year four of the programme".

During last week’s meeting, council leader Shona Haslam asked Mr Robertson if the new technology would allow families to see when carers were visiting their loved ones.

Mr Robertson replied: "In terms of feedback with families, the intention is that we will be able to provide much better information to families about who is providing care to their loved ones.

"They will be able to communicate with us. We will be able to communicate with them. Feedback sits at the heart of this project.

"We are not the first to do this. TotalMobile is a market-leading product. We have already spoken to Fife, who have implemented TotalMobile and we will learn from their experiences.

"They are broadly very happy with the system, while recognising there have been some challenges. The system in some ways is too smart for them around dynamic scheduling and they've had to dial that back a little bit. But they are very pleased with the work they have done.

"We are also going to speak to South Lanarkshire who have implemented the system in the way we intend to do in the Borders."

The full council agreed to take the project forward.

Tom Weatherston, the executive member for adult wellbeing, said: "I welcome this report. It sets out a vision for Scottish Borders Council to be the first smart-connected rural region in the United Kingdom.

"The digital strategy roadmap will initially focus on the social care service, before extending onto other frontline services.

"The key benefits for the social care service are: service users will experience better outcomes; care workers will have better information about specific needs of each service user; and lone worker protection will enable workers to raise an alert if they feel threatened.

"This technology can be integrated to enable working with partners, where appropriate, and real-time management information to improve operational and strategic decision-making.

"It also delivers financial savings as well as a host of other operational benefits.

"Most importantly – a better customer experience with real-time updates, better communication and increased feedback."