- Major expansion of platform delivering 24/7 home care
- Automated compliance to massively reduce carer recruitment time
- New online community to help address carer burn-out and churn
Lifted – the home care platform for carers and families – has been awarded £1.3 million by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of its Healthy Ageing Challenge. The money will be used to develop the Lifted Complete Care Companion, a first-of-its-kind all in one solution to the care worker shortage and a major extension of the company’s existing platform and app.
Lifted’s mission is twofold:
- To help combat the care worker recruitment and retention crisis, with over 10% of care worker roles in the UK currently vacant, double that of last year
- To empower people to access regulated in-home care quickly and easily
Rachael Crook, co-founder and CEO of Lifted, says, “When I had to find care for my mother, I was completely shocked by how difficult the process was. My own experience has inspired me to create an entirely new way for people to access regulated, ongoing home care for their loved ones that’s as simple and stress-free as possible. The Lifted platform also makes it much easier for carers to start work without the excessive wait times they currently face, which is a major reason why so many vacancies remain unfilled.”
Lifted enables people to find, manage and keep up to date with regulated home care on their phone, with 24/7 expert support. It provides a personalised service with full transparency, including real time updates and the ability to share ‘moments of joy’ between loved ones and carers. Lifted is also designed specifically to improve the well being of carers with real time feedback from families, great support and well paid roles.
The £1.3 million award from UKRI will enable Lifted to significantly extend the capabilities of its current platform and create the Lifted Complete Care Companion. In particular, Lifted aims to reduce the average time to hire a carer from over 100 days to less than 14 via AI-assisted automation. It also aims to double carer retention rates – currently, almost 40% of care workers leave their roles every year.
Crook continues, “The carer compliance process is incredibly lengthy and inefficient, with the care sector losing many potentially excellent candidates because they can’t afford to wait months on end before starting work. This also opens the door to unregulated workers, which puts loved ones at risk. By automating the compliance process, the Lifted Complete Care Companion will massively reduce approval times and quickly get carers into worthwhile roles.”
Lifted’s platform will also increase its emphasis on carer development and the creation of an online carer community, addressing the huge turnover of workers the industry is currently afflicted by due to poor career prospects and a lack of support.
Crook says, “Carers tell us that they want to develop their skills and progress within the industry, but often don’t know how to achieve this, which is a major reason why the care sector currently has an almost 40% churn rate. Carers also face significant mental health challenges, with many feeling isolated and close to burn-out. Lifted is built on interactivity, and the UKRI award will enable us to introduce comprehensive gamified programmes to boost carer career progression and to create a vibrant online community where carers can share experiences and receive support from others.”
Lifted supports people across the full care journey, enabling loved ones to stay in their own homes for longer and for families to stay fully engaged with their care. The company also runs the Lifted Dementia Hub, an online community which includes a marketplace of products specifically designed to support people living with dementia, currently used by over 40,000 families.
Just three years since its launch, Lifted has already been recognised as the best independent home care company in the country by the Home Care Awards 2022 and the Laing Buisson Awards 2021.
Jane Townson, CEO of the UK Home Care Association, says, “Recruitment and retention of care works is a critical challenge. It has a severe detrimental impact on the ability of older people to receive the support they need to live life on their terms. While digital technology is increasingly being adopted in the sector, there is a lack of products designed to address this challenge creatively and effectively. Lifted’s approach is highly innovative and unique, and could make a significant difference to home care delivery and the lives of older adults in the UK. I am delighted to support them.”
Crook concludes, “We want to revolutionise home care in this country by helping to create a highly skilled, supported and motivated carer workforce that clients trust and value. By managing the entire process via our Complete Care Companion app and offering gamified incentives to encourage full engagement with it, we also hope to attract carers from across the entire spectrum of society, including younger people and candidates from less traditional backgrounds.”
About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UKRI creates knowledge with impact by investing over £8bn a year in research and innovation through the UK’s nine leading funding councils.
About Lifted – https://www.liftedcare.com/
Lifted’s mission is to help fix the current care crisis by revolutionising home care provision. Its bespoke Care Management Platform centralises data from all parts of the care ecosystem, enabling AI-assisted decision making for carers and automated scheduling and alerting for operations teams. Information is shared in real time to make arranging care easier, quicker and safer, and to give families immediate insight into their loved one’s health. The company was founded in 2019 and has received £9.3 million in funding and awards.
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