Maximum Networks, a nationwide IT support provider with a specialist telephony and communications team, has reported a surge in demand from care homes and residential care centres looking for better ways to manage large volumes of incoming calls and improve family connectivity.
With PSTN lines due to be switched off in 2025 and government and regulatory directives urging adult social care providers to transition to cloud-based telephony and digitised record-keeping, the company says now is an ideal time to consider all the options before legacy systems become redundant.
Reasons for Increased Need for Reliable Telephony in Care Homes
The adult social care sector has been experiencing unprecedented pressure in recent years due to widely publicised staffing shortages amid growing demand. Proposals also mean that primary healthcare providers may become more reliant on care facilities to take over the care of patients following their discharge from in-patient treatments.
When analysing the reasons for significant growth in demand, there are likely several contributing factors:
- Pressures on care homes trying to manage issues with staffing and funding while looking to improve the standards of care and facilities residents can access.
- Introductions of more on-demand technology meaning families, community-based healthcare support services and loved ones expect to be able to contact care home residents through video as well as voice calls.
- Concerns around the need for care home residents to isolate, particularly during winter seasons when viral infections such as flu affect high-risk individuals, making real-time communications essential for mental well-being.
- The shutdown of traditional copper phone lines in 2025, with BT advising all businesses with legacy systems to transfer to an internet-based or fibre service as soon as possible.
- Cost-efficiencies and integrations offered through modern phone networks helping to manage care home overheads, reduce maintenance requirements and mitigate any issues linked to peak periods or call handling capacity.
Another element may be that more people are living longer and remaining healthy, with care homes trying to expand capacity while staying cost-effective and returning viable revenues to maintain their services.
What Are the Benefits of Upgraded Telephony in a Care Home Setting?
The advantages of flexible telephony extend across care organisations, from integrating with devices and apps to assist with real-time communications between teams and colleagues to offering better patient services where they can access private phone lines and make or receive as many calls as they wish without excessive costs.
Many care homes are evaluating ways to work more efficiently, particularly when staffing is stretched, while following protocols and safeguarding regulations, such as maintaining logs of communications, prescriptions and medical interactions with residents.
Modern phone systems provide much more than a way to handle calls with excellent audio quality – they can also introduce:
- Improved data security and capture, with features available such as call recording, automatic redirects and confidential connections for practitioners to discuss the well-being of a resident with their care provider.
- Reduced overhead costs without exposure to ongoing maintenance requirements or the limitations of one phone number connected to one hardwired device.
- Faster connections and limitless capacity, accommodating multiple downloads, broadband logins, internet-enabled calls and streaming requests without service interruptions.
- Integrated record keeping, where call systems can log calls made, provide voice-to-text conversions to transfer messages into patient care records, and prompt administrators or care supervisors to return important calls.
One of the many advantages from a resident's safety viewpoint is that using cloud-based and hosted telephony improves the ability of a care home to filter out potential spam or scam calls, a crucial requirement when older people are at an increasing risk of fraud.
Progressive communication systems can utilise safe-listing and deny-listing features while automatically directing inbound calls from unregistered numbers to reception and support staff to filter through and ensure no unethical or unwanted calls can reach a vulnerable resident.
Meeting the Growing Need for Agile Telephone Systems in UK Care Homes
Managing Director of Maximum Networks, Steward Lines, says, 'As a busy and long-established provider of IT support and professional telephony consultations and installations, we often find periods where we receive a spike in enquiries from specific types of businesses or organisations.
The pace of growth and evolution in the care home sector is likely a piece of the equation, where new NHS England mandates instructing GP practices to switch to cloud-based phone systems have started to trickle through to other service providers.
Regardless of the reasons, we have seen profound improvements where care home clients and other organisations, such as at-home care agencies and drop-in centres, transition to contemporary alternatives. They often find their monthly bills fall, residents and families are more satisfied, and they convert more enquiries into committed service users where they are never again in a position to miss a call or forget to respond to a voicemail.
We’d welcome any business interested in the best options to upgrade and update their telephone support for care homes to get in touch at any time – our teams of communications specialists are always happy to offer independent advice.’
Read more about Maximum Networks - Maximum Networks Recommends UK Businesses Replace PSTN Phone Lines In Advance of the 2025 Switch-Off
Media Contact:
Phil Kinch
03301027444
About Maximum Networks
Maximum Networks is a leading IT support provider and telecoms company based in Birmingham, UK. The company has been dedicated to offering comprehensive IT support, managed services, and bespoke telecom solutions to businesses of all sizes. With a strong commitment to customer satisfaction, innovative technology, and industry-leading expertise, Maximum Networks has become a trusted partner for businesses looking to streamline operations and enhance communications.
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Source Company: https://www.maximumnetworks.co.uk/
