How a single app cut the load on Catholic Healthcare's call centre

A Samsung tablet equipped with the OAuth authorisation protocol has drastically reduced the volume of calls to Catholic Healthcare's call centres and handed control back to its elderly clients.

Since this time last year the not-for-profit aged care and retirement provider has been giving tablets running the Breezie aged care interface to its home care customers.

The not-for-profit operates 51 residential aged care and retirement living communities, but a growing number of its clients choose to remain in their own home.

These clients rely on regular visits made by Catholic Healthcare's carers, but previously visibility for these customers into when - and who - would be making these visits was limited.

This was responsible for a significant volume of calls to its call centre, and was diverting the centre's workers from being able to handle more complex requests.

In the lead up to last Christmas, Catholic Healthcare decided to trial a mobile device with 100 clients that enabled them to access its systems in order to view their visit schedule.

Its line-of-business system is accessible on the tablet through the OAuth protocol, which means its clients can simply tap on an icon and enter a "secure, authenticated session" without having to punch in authentication credentials.

They can view their scheduled future visits and request any changes or cancellations, and also enter a video call with their care advisor - taking a lot of the load off the call centre.

The ability to access Catholic Healthcare's client portal without having to remember login details is key for the not-for-profit's elderly client base.

They can also access other entertainment and communication offerings, like Facebook and Skype, on the tablet to keep stimulated and in contact with family and friends.

The tablet solution has now become a standard part of the provider's home care package.

It has been architected in a way that enables components to be added in the future; Catholic Healthcare says it is now looking at whether it can use the tablet as a base for health monitoring using IoT devices.

Similarly under consideration is a project to build out the online client portal to facilitate financial transactions, and present a shop front for aged care-related items.

This project has been named a finalist in the healthcare category of the iTnews Benchmark Awards 2017/18. The full list of finalists can be found here.