There is a moment every carer recognises. You are standing in someone's hallway, something is not right, and you need the daughter's mobile number, the GP's name and what the plan says about this exact situation. What you have is a folder at home and a phone with no signal in the back bedroom.
The question you cannot answer from a drawer
Three groups of people will eventually ask to see your records: a family who want to know what is being done, a local authority or a broker who is placing work with you, and — if you are registered — an inspector. None of them are being difficult. All of them are asking the same question, which is whether the care is planned or improvised.
The honest answer for most small providers is that the care is planned and the records are improvised. The plan is real; it is in a ring binder, a notebook and the carer's memory. That is fine right up until the day it isn't.
What a client record needs to hold
For a small provider, usefully, four things:
- Who they are and where. The address you are driving to, and how to get in.
- What the care is. The plan itself — what you do, how they like it done, what to watch for.
- Who to ring. Next of kin, family, the GP. At the moment you need this, you need it in seconds.
- What happened. A dated note for every visit, written at the time rather than remembered later.
How it works in Carer Companion
The care plan
Each client has one record, and the care plan lives in it rather than in a document you have to find and open. When it changes, it changes in one place, and the version you are reading at the door is the current one.
A checklist per client
The things that must happen on every call, in order, for this particular person. It is there on the phone while you are with them, and it is ticked as you go. For a new carer covering for you, or for you on a day you are running late and tired, it is the difference between a good visit and a nearly-good one.
Notes written at the door
You write the note on the visit, at the visit — typed, or dictated out loud if your hands are full and you are walking back to the car. It is dated, it is attached to that client and that call, and it is not a thing waiting for you at nine o'clock tonight.
The people to ring
Family and next-of-kin contacts sit on the client record, not in your phone's address book where they are indistinguishable from everyone else you know.
Your documents
DBS certificates, insurance, training certificates and your policies are stored against your business. When someone asks to see them — and at some point someone will — you send them rather than hunting through a drawer for the one that has not expired.
Sharing, when it helps
You can share a client's record with a family member or with another carer covering for you, by email, with a role that determines what they see and a link that expires. It is a deliberate act for a specific person, not an open door.
What it does not do — and this one matters
This is not a compliance product and it will not make you CQC compliant. No software can do that. Carer Companion keeps good records, and good records make an inspection easier; they are not the same thing as meeting the fundamental standards, and anyone selling you software on that promise is overselling it.
It also does not register you with a regulator, tell you whether you need to be registered, or write your policies for you. If you are providing personal care in England and are not registered, that is a criminal offence and no app changes it — our guide to going self-employed as a carer covers what to check and who to ask.
- It is not a rostering system for a large agency. It is built for one carer or a small team, and it stops being the right tool somewhere well short of thirty staff.
- It does not supply care plan templates or clinical content. The plan is yours, written by you with the person and their family. We hold it; we do not author it.
Questions
- Will this make me CQC compliant?
No, and no software can. It keeps organised, dated, retrievable records, which makes an inspection considerably easier and is usually part of what is being asked for. Meeting the fundamental standards is a much wider question about how you actually deliver care, and it is not something an app can do for you.
- Can family see the care plan?
Only if you share it with them. You share a client's record with a named person by email, with a role that controls what they can see and a link that expires. Nothing is public and nothing is shared by default.
- Can I write visit notes without typing?
Yes. You can dictate a note out loud on the phone instead of typing it, which is what most people do on the way back to the car.
- Is it suitable for a small agency with a few staff?
It is built for a single carer or a small team and works well at that size. It is not a rostering and HR system for a large agency, and if you are running thirty carers you will outgrow it.
- Where is the data kept?
In the UK, and it is covered by our data protection page. MTC Technology Limited is registered with the ICO under ZC057135.
Try it on your own round
Carer Companion is £19 a month with every feature included — no tiers, no per-client charges, and nothing held back for a higher plan. The first 7 days are free and we do not ask for a card to start. Start your free 7 days, or see everything it does first.