Coronavirus: Edinburgh-based Care Sourcer launches Covid-19 taskforce

Care Sourcer, which describes itself as the UK’s first comparison and matching site for elderly care, has launched a Covid-19 industry taskforce in the face of what it is calling the worst health crisis facing the country in generations.

The healthtech business is aiming to help plug gaps in care provision. Picture: contributed.

The healthtech firm is offering a free employee assistance Programme (EAP) to care providers nationwide in partnership with Legal & General and EAP platform Health Assured.

Care Sourcer is free for people seeking care and searches thousands of registered care providers across the UK to bring a tailored list of local care providers to users within 48 hours. It said that as at least 15,000 people are set to leave hospital to free up beds to accommodate coronavirus patients, it is now actively working with local councils and authorities to help find care home and care-at-home options for hundreds of elderly people.

Care Sourcer is also offering support and advice to families who are taking in elderly relatives as many care homes close their doors to new residents and as care providers prepare to lose a significant amount of employees through a combination of school closures and fast-increasing virus contraction within the care worker community.

From left: Andrew McGinley and Andrew Parfery of Care Sourcer. Picture: Stewart Attwood.

“While the UK Government recently committed £3 billion to support services in the community and some of these funds are expected to be directed to care homes, the Care Sourcer team has highlighted the gravity of the situation on the ground,” the tech firm said.

Strategy

Care Sourcer chief executive and co-founder Andrew Parfery said: “We have set aside some of our other business plans in order to rapidly do whatever we can to help.

“Some of the problems we anticipate or are already seeing include care homes not taking new residents, care homes in fear of an outbreak, impact on staff availability as care workers and their families get ill, school closures translating to some providers losing up to half of their care workers, and care visits to people’s homes being striped back to only essential visits, meaning families stepping in.

“Although the health department has committed funding to care providers and struggling care homes, the industry as a whole now needs to pull together more than ever in the face of what could be the greatest health crisis to face this country in a century. Everyone is struggling, everyone is gravely worried and we need action plans to protect our elderly.”

Care Sourcer – which says there are an estimated 1.6 million care workers in the UK – says its service can be used by individuals, GPs, social workers, or anyone else looking for care for an older person. Care experts are also available free of charge by telephone and email.

The healthtech firm was co-founded by Parfery and MD Andrew McGinley who both ran care businesses and decided to create Care Sourcer in 2016 after seeing first-hand the growing unmet need for care.

In July 2018, Care Sourcer announced Series A funding of £8.5 million, which is thought to be the largest such fundraise of a digital technology company in Scotland. The sum comprised a £6m investment from Legal & General and a further £2.5m from patient venture investor Accelerated Digital Ventures.