Just last Friday (19th July) there was a worldwide IT outage affecting a multitude of organisations including the NHS and GP's and on 3rd June there was a major security breach affecting multiple London Hospitals having Ransomware inserted into third party systems, both causing chaos. Each very similar to the Irish data breach back in 2021.

We are happy to announce that no issues were reported by SMI customers, using both Staff.Care and iCare software solutions. However customers are looking at introducing more security safety measures in the future and SMI do provide separate test/training databases which allow you to thoroughly test any new updates without having any impact in your ‘Live’ systems. Copies of your live system are available on request for testing and training purposes. This is now very popular with many SMI customers. Please contact SMI for further information.

We are excited to announce the addition of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to both iCare and Staff.Care, enhancing your security with an extra layer of protection. With MFA, you will be required to verify your identity through multiple methods before gaining access, ensuring your data remains secure and safeguarded against unauthorised access. This new feature underscores our commitment to providing you with the highest level of security and peace of mind.

Staff photos are now available and are visible on rotas and within the Staff Records. You can also brand Staff.Care with your own logos on both the App and the Desktop version. Don't forget that Shift Offering is available via the App for quick shift allocations. For further information on all the new features available, please contact the Support Team.

Watch out for the notification of the latest upgrade. There is lots of new functionality available including Staff Photos on the employee record and on the rotas. SMI are continuing development to introduce a new end user experience, with streamlined rota management and HR Suite improvements.

Leave Rollover and Bank Holidays with Automatic Calculations. With the Financial Year upon us, don’t forget that Staff.Care can manage your leave rollover for you, whichever way you manage your leave (either Rollover or Set Zero). All calculations are updated by SMI. Don’t forget you can add your Bank Holidays which will update the rotas automatically too. If you have any queries at all, just contact the helpful SMI Support Team. Support@smicare.com

Thank you for your continued support of SMI and our software solutions. We hope you all manage a well-deserved rest over the Christmas break. As always, a lot has been happening at SMI with a fresh, modern, Application Interface for Staff.Care, including lots of new functionality as well as many new features currently in programming for iCare too. Exciting, and busy, times ahead for the SMI Team. We are planning release of both FREE upgrades in 2024.

Staff.Care now offers HSE Reports covering Census, Absence and Turnover. You can even keep your current Grading structure as it is for visibility of rotas and the training/HR compliance system - we have created bespoke fields which output to the HSE Reports.

Using the Staff.Care Payroll Interface, you can now pay to Section 38.

* moving to standardised national payment systems but keeping local payments if you wish
* processing sickness absence in compliance to Section 38 including automatically processing Full/Half/No Pay for FTC, staff working less than a year etc

As with all bespoke interfaces SMI support with design work, testing and rolling out. Contact us today to discuss your specific requirements.

Bank Management within Staff.Care has been improved even further. The feedback from Managers has been fantastic. Advising staff of unfilled shifts on a whole rota is now actioned with a couple of clicks. Staff see the shifts on the Mobile App and can request them with a click too. Hours of calls, text messages and Whatsapp messaging is now a thing of the past and the Managers and Staff are happy. Big wins all around!

SMI are upgrading our cloud hosted iCare Servers which are built on the latest technology with enterprise-grade hardware! Of course the data centre still resides in the UK, ensuring data sovereignty and is protected by the latest innovations in both physical and digital security! It runs on 100% renewable energy making our impact on the environment as low as possible without sacrificing any of the performance of our services!

The Webinars were a huge success and therefore we have released further dates for topics which include New Features (are you updated?), Contract Changes, Volunteers & Recruitment and many more. Contact Elaine Parker to book your place.

One question we are always asked - "Can Staff.Care manage additional Public/Bank Holidays?" Yes we can. Just contact the Support Team and we will do everything for you. It's all part of the excellent service provided by SMI.

Also remember that the Easter holiday in 2024 falls into this financial year. Good Friday is 29th March 2024.

The latest iCare version features "Private" patients and additional SmartForm enhancements.
Contact SMI for more information and book your upgrade so you can take advantage of the new functionality.

Our Customers asked and we delivered. Staff.Care now provides all the HR functionality that your HR Managers have asked for. New Compliance Dashboards and a Training Matrix for automatic competency checks for new starters. We've also updated our eRostering to enhance the Managers' experience as well as a new Mobile App for staff. Rota Changes and Leave Authorisations are immediately alerted to staff. Bank Management is further streamlined with a new 'bidding' system, which can again be managed by staff on the App.

Contact SMI to enquire why Staff.Care is so popular within the care and health sectors.

SMI provide the complete hosting service alongside our software. SMI take care of all the IT aspects for our customers. All the customer needs is an internet connection. This allows staff to work from home, in the community, on the ward and with Staff.Care on the mobile app.

Our Data Centre is UK-based and boasts Grade A in energy efficiency, whilst providing maximum security and fully protected hardware from fire, floods etc.

Speak to SMI to enquire about our Hosted Solutions and Services and let us take care of your IT hassles.

The main complaint from Hospices is that they are using too many separate solutions that don't link with each other. Too much time is spent inputting data multiple times and reporting is a nightmare. Staff.Care has provided the perfect solution for over 50 Hospices now. Want to know more? click here (including video).

Are you using all of the new iCare features yet? Tags have been a particular favourite but there are plenty more goodies in the latest update! Contact our awesome support team if you want any assistance turning these features on or simply using them efficiently. An update with further features is on its way before the end of the year so get up to date now!

Another hospice has just completed their Automated Clinical Rostering project with significant time savings for the Senior Management Team, allowing them more time with their patients. The project just took 2 weeks, from the project meeting, to using Autofill Live! SMI manage and configure your Staff.Care to provide an ideal rota, we then provide monthly updates to ensure it remains "current" for years to come. Contact us today for the Case Study.

We have updated our videos and key guides for the new release. If you have any queries, just contact the Support Team who will be happy to help support@smicare.com. If you would like SMI to provide any internal video's, specific to your configuration, just get in touch for more information.

You will be contacted over the coming weeks to book your Staff.Care Upgrade. As always, this upgrade is Free and provides a mass of new functionality, driven by you, our customers. Enhanced Leave Management and Compliance Dashboards are a couple of highlights. If you can't wait, just give us a call to get booked in.

We will be shortly contacting our iCare customers to arrange an upgrade. As always, our upgrades are free. Improvements include updated Smartform Controls and Safeguarding the End User experience. We will be in touch very soon.

SMI have made the decision to delay the latest release by a couple of months because we are giving you even more functionality. We are now adding new Competency Dashboards (ideal for inspections) and more Policy Management alerts. We will provide further updates in due course.

The Webinars are back by popular demand. The first one being 9th March and we've filled the diary until August 2022. Topics include Vaccination & Booster Recording, Why you need "Needs" including Dependency & Acuity, Rostering Hints & Tips, End Users, What can and should they be doing, Exciting Times (overview of new release) and much more. Contact Elaine to book or request further information.

If your 'year-end' is 31st December and you haven't completed your leave rollover yet, just give us a call. Remember Staff.Care does everything for you and the Support Team will ensure the additional Jubilee Holiday is added for you too. Don't Panic. Staff.Care will continue to work fine even if you haven't rolled over yet! It will dynamically calculate the leave for the following year too, automatically.

By popular demand, the Webinars will continue throughout 2022. We will update all customers soon with the dates and topics. We guarantee you will learn something new at every Webinar. If there are any specific topics you want covered, just let us know.

Once again our Customers have made our year. Being able to continue to help and support our Customers over the last couple of years has been an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for your kind words too. We do have the most amazing customers. We hope everyone gets some rest over the holidays and enjoys time with family and friends.

Staff.Care have now been given to a selection of customers for Beta Testing. Already the feedback has been fantastic! The new enhancements to the rotas around Leave Management and fabulous HR enhancements are creating quite a stir. Sit tight, it will you released to everyone as soon as we can.

Most of our iCare Customers have already upgraded to the latest version with resounding success and enjoying the fabulous new enhancements. However there are a few stragglers who still need to take the plunge (you know who you are ??). If you haven't booked your upgrade yet, please get in touch. You only have until June 2022 before your current version becomes unsupported by Microsoft. Contact us today.

SMI are classing this as a HR Release as most of the enhancements are based around feedback from our HR leads. More Workflows, Dashboards, Reporting, Analysis and Folder management are all on the horizon. We will be arranging Customer User Groups early Spring to showcase the new functionality. Exciting times ??.

SMI clearly excels when providing Support for our customers. Our Support Team has been described as 'Friendly', 'Brilliant, 'Amazing' and 'Second to none'. 'We Love You' has also be branded a few times??. SMI now want to go further and provide even more services for our customers. SMI have now launched new Support Level's to further enhance our customer experience. The new Level 2 Administration Support ensures rotas and HR records are always kept 'current' and all data recording is kept accurate at all times. SMI will provide all configuration changes usually within the hour of asking. Contact us today for more information.

We are looking to expand our great Team with Support Team members, Apprentices, Video Editing/Creation and Trainers. If you have the right skills and want to work for a great company, just give us a call.

All SMI Staff.Care Customers have now been upgraded and have access to the New Mobile App. Staff can easily see their rotas, request shifts & leaves, have instant updates for authorised leave and rota changes, see their leave balances and are alerted when a new policy requires review, plus so much more.

SMI have successfully transferred all our Staff.Care Hosted Customers to a new Server, providing the latest technology with added security and huge speed improvements. More and more customers are now choosing SMI to provide the complete hosting package, taking care of all your IT requirements without the hassle. Contact us today for further information.

Following the User Groups last year, SMI are about to release the latest iCare Upgrade with enhancements requested by our Customers. iCare has been fully updated with a new look and feel, cross browser technology, enhanced reporting and more powerful Smart Forms. And as always with SMI software - the upgrade is Free. Home Care and Hospice Care has been made easier, especially with the new Patient Activities Flow Report. Hosted Customers will receive the upgrades first, followed by our other customers in quick succession.

Despite all the restrictions of last year, SMI still managed to implement both iCare and Staff.Care across the healthcare sector. Our Remote Implementations have been a resounding success with many new customers coming onboard. iCare has received a huge Update and is at the final stages of Beta Testing. Many new features are now available following Customer feedback with more planned for the future. SMI have also heavily invested in new technology and will be moving customers to new servers soon with improved speed and enhanced security. Staff.Care continues to advance with a new Mobile App and more HR enhancements planned with this year.

I'm sure you'll agree, it's been one hell of a year and one we will all be happy seeing the back of. But despite all the stresses and strains over the last few months, I think we've all proved what a great team SMI and our Customers make, by tackling all the issues head on.

SMI are extremely proud our services and products have continued to make a difference and provide a critical contribution towards extensive organisational operations during these unprecedented times!

From scheduling and ensuring safe staffing levels to tracking staff leave and self-isolation in Staff.Care. Then in iCare, the all-important recording, tracking and reporting of COVID assessments, monitoring and diagnoses!

It is our pleasure we were and are able to help continue to provide an uninterrupted service to you, helping facilitate you to do the same for your staff and patients during these testing times. We would like to take this opportunity to say what an honour it has been to work alongside our healthcare customers who have all been providing an outstanding service to our communities and loved ones!

We would like to thank everyone and all take care.

SMI

Starting in January, SMI are introducing new online software Overview & Training Sessions for our customers. Key aspects of iCare and Staff.Care will be available including Data Cleansing, New Functionality, Smart/Soft Form Training and Reporting. We will be limiting to 6 delegates per session however if a high interest is shown, we will just provide multiple sessions. Customers are encouraged to contact us to suggest areas of interest. We will be posting a list of sessions soon.

One of the key wins for Staff.Care customers is the Payroll Interface. Reducing errors, administration time and paper trails whilst paying the correct and fair wages to all staff are just some of the aspects you'll enjoy - allowing your staff to do much more productive work for your organisation. Speak to us today.

As planned, the iCare Upgrade is currently in the final testing phase prior to Beta Testing. Cross browser technology and more enhancements which have been requested by you, our customers, includes Multiple Service Reporting, additional Smart Form functions and more colour referencing. And as always with SMI upgrades - it's free! We will update you as soon as it's available.

If the stresses of recent weeks have taught us anything, it's that we all need to embrace technology to make our lives easier. Working on spreadsheets and paper-based record keeping made working from home a nightmare for many. SMI customers had no such stress and just worked from home as normal. All our software is browser-based which means all staff can log in from home and see their rotas, request shifts, input leave and also update patient details too. No-one knows how long this new normal will last, so make sure you and your staff can work effectively all the time, no matter where they are. Speak to us regarding our software solutions.

SMI have started their new remote implementation format for all the new customers which came on board just before the lockdown, much to everyone's relief. The new format is working well, with sessional training workshops and a clearer project management format. We are also providing support and training for existing customers the same way. So far everyone is pleased that everything is slowly getting back to some sort of normal.

SMI's new OACC IPOS Reporting Suite provides an insight into how people are responding to IPOS questionnaires and changes in the reported timeframe. The full Reporting Suite includes:

* One page per IPOS indicator.
* Bar Chart of scores showing distribution of increases/decreases.
* Table of movement since last questionnaire.
* Graphical Reporting including Doughnut Charts and Tables.
* Line Chart for Journey average.
* Bar Charts for average IPOS scoring.
* Overview Dashboard.
* Patient lists with filters for Date Ranges, Service, Phase of Illness.
* Positive and Negative Changes highlighted in Red or Green.
* Spider Graph Views.
* Trend Analysis

Please contact SMI for further information!

The latest Staff.Care upgrade has passed BETA and is now available for general release. The upgrade is totally free and includes the following new functionality:

* Rota counts update - including new combo setup and options

* Multi-shift working patterns

* The ability to limit leave requests

* Leave request updates including work pattern conversions

* Single leaves tab on the rota

* Advanced Contract Change enhancements

* Updated List Selections

* Security Group update to limit hover-over of leaves for primary/secondary unit staff

* New Roll Call report

* Room bookings feature

* Soft Form calculations added

* Updated Clocking Dashboard and T&A reporting

If your upgrade has not already been booked in, please contact SMI to get the latest and greatest version of Staff.Care!

"During these exceptional times, Staff.Care is helping us to track sickness and ensure we maintain a safe level of staffing in all our clinical areas. This has included adding a dedicated leave code for COVID-19 related sickness, which will allow concise tracking and reporting. Additionally, we have redeployed staff onto other units to help fill rota needs, which is very simple to do with Staff.Care."

Rob Webb, IT Manager, Saint Catherine's Hospice.

All upgrades require a small amount of system downtime therefore we have taken the difficult but sensible decision to postpone the release of the next version of Staff.Care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of you remote working and staff shortages due to self-isolation, we felt it prudent to take this step ensuring Staff.Care is always available to you.

There's a raft of new features we are looking forward to giving you including:

• * The very popular swapping and editing leaves
• * Converting shifts and working patterns to leave, keeping the original shift times
• * Updated counts and needs
• * New rota hover function
• * Limiting leave requests
• * A new rollcall report - can be used for FIRE rollcall
• * Staff scheduling against rooms including drag and drop
• * Multi-shift work patterns
• * Calculations on soft forms including date difference

The driving force behind implementing Staff.Care was to streamline all internal processes, which had become labour intensive and costly. Staff.Care provided the perfect solution for all their Workforce Management requirements including HR, eRostering and a Payroll Interface. Click to see the Case Study.

All the Team at SMI, wish you a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2020.

Zero Three Care wanted to combine an HR solution with an efficient eRostering solution. Having started their implementation last year, they have already realised huge benefits managing their staff with Staff.Care. "Our payroll used to take 2 staff members 2 days to process! now it just takes minutes". Click to see the Case Study.

Come along and meet the team at the Hospice UK National Conference in Liverpool on 20th, 21st and 22nd November. An amazing special offer will be available to all attendees, so make sure you visit the stand to register.

SMI enjoyed another successful day meeting all the HR Teams attending the Hospice UK Conference yesterday. We are amazed at the fantastic reception Staff.Care received and looking forward to welcoming more Hospice customers in the future.

The dates for the popular SMI User Groups have been announced, being held in Edinburgh and the Midlands. Book your place today.

14th January 2020, Edinburgh - Staff.Care
28th January 2020, Midlands - Staff.Care
29th January 2020, Midlands - iCare.

Contact elaine.parker@smicare.com for further information.

As our customers are aware, major development has taken place with Staff.Care over the last 12 months. Dashboards have been a fantastic success with amazing feedback from our customers. Expenses and the Payroll Interface are more popular than ever too, both providing huge cost and time benefits for every organisation. More developments are planned to improve the HR module even further to make Staff.Care the only clinical 'all in one' solution for healthcare organisations.

Our iCare customers can look forward to the new HTML5 iCare which is currently being developed. The new OACC's Reporting Suite (Phase 2) is also being improved to provide even greater Reporting and Graphical capabilities.

SMI are proud to support Hospice UK at both Coventry (October) and Liverpool (November) Conferences, please come along to our stand, it's always lovely to speak to our customers face to face.

SMI continues to grow year on year and it's great to know our software developments are proving most popular, as we continue to listen to our customers and provide the software packages they need to support their organisations, now and in the future.

The European Court of Justice have ruled that employers must have a system in place to record not only the hours worked but also the break times too. This rule is linked with the Working Time Regulations to stop staff working over 48 hours per week. But don't panic, SMI can provide everything you need. Our Biometric systems link directly with Staff.Care so all break times are recorded and monitored for you. Plus, don't think that Brexit will offer an escape route, this law is binding whatever happens. SMI can provide everything you need whether you are an existing or new Staff.Care customer.

Sharley Brown from The Children's Trust says "The SMI system is a clear and simple system to use and provides the opportunity to manage your staff efficiently. We have continuously turned to SMI and Staff.Care to enhance our staffing information, rostering and we like the flexibility of the system. Customisable to your needs whilst maintaining a core software provision and to add to a great all round product we have also found the support and aftercare service to be excellent and friendly. No question is too small and they always have time for us! We value their expertise and trust their system.""

Feel free to speak to our friendly team today. No high pressured salesman, our Software and Services speak for themselves. Email support@smicare.com with any queries you have.

Wigan & Leigh Hospice has now started their Staff.Care implementation for their eRostering and HR requirements. Welcome aboard. We're all looking forward to working with the team at the hospice.

"I just wanted to write to give you some initial feedback on our iCare Overview Day that we had today. It takes a lot for me to sing out the praises, but I cannot fault Chris (SMI) in any way. Not only was he extremely professional, but his enthusiasm was obvious and very infectious" says Gerry Crow, Mary Stevens Hospice.

SMI are currently working with a family healthcare group to deliver new features in Staff.Care! This will see the implementation of room bookings. This allows you to easily assign staff to rooms, giving real time information and alerts where rooms are over subscribed! Watch this space for more info.

SMI have partnered with a leading Paper Scanning company which allow you to quickly and easily scan all paper Patient and Staff Records. SMI can then implement software to manage all your Patient and Staff Records for the future. iCare can provide everything you need for Patient Management including Home Care and Staff.Care provides all your Workforce Management requirements including eRostering and HR.

Major development continues on the HR aspects of Staff.Care, ensuring SMI continues to be the market leader in eRostering and HR Solutions for the Healthcare Marketplace. SMI are working closely with top HR Management Teams to provide the only 'all in one' Workforce Management Solution of its kind.

Hot off the press. A new Case Study which literally answers all the questions everyone has about Staff.Care. A customer has answered the questions honestly and we've simply transcribed without any sales gimmicks or prompts from SMI. This is one Case Study you will want to read! Click here!

Thank you for your continued loyal custom and best wishes for 2019 from all the Team at SMI.

"Staff.Care allows us to do so much more with the resource we have, concentrate on the innovative, interesting people-centred work while the payroll and staffing admin is delivered by the system" says Clair Watson, Workforce Lead. Complete Case Study available soon.

SMI are working closely with iCare customers to re-establish iCare, drive confidence and efficiencies across each Hospice. Two Hospices have recently contacted SMI to review their existing use of iCare, both fully aware in the knowledge that they are only using minimal core functionality of iCare and getting frustrated with in-house practices. Both customers implemented years ago and key knowledge has dwindled over the years due staffing changes. Sound familiar? Just one visit to each Hospice has realised MAJOR results. St Francis Hospice in Romford said "we ran an IPU report this morning!!!!!!and it only took 20 MINUTES !!! yippee "jumping people" !!!! Before it took TWO DAYS!!!!"

Gerry Crow from Mary Stevens Hospice said "I just wanted to write to give you some initial feedback on our iCare Overview Day that we had today. It takes a lot for me to sing out the praises, but I cannot fault Chris in any way. Not only was he extremely professional, but his enthusiasm was obvious and very infectious. We had a lot of staff that attended the morning briefing session (which went on longer than planned as there was so much interaction) and I think that I can quite honestly say everyone was shocked by the potential and functionality of the system, most of which we have not used as the knowledge was never shared."

Speak to SMI today to realise the full potential of iCare.

The feedback from the HR Conference was fantastic. Nikki and the team thoroughly enjoyed the day demonstrating Staff.Care, proving SMI can provide the 'whole package' for Hospices for eRostering, HR, Training, Recruitment and Volunteer Management. It was great to put faces to the voices and meeting our loyal customers again. If we missed anyone, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

We're excited to introduce our new Sister Company in Auckland for the distribution and sales of Staff.Care, iCare and iPlanner. Rota IQ are a relatively new company but their expertise within software solutions is vast, in fact, Craig Shearer, Technical Director, has been involved with SMI for a number of years and Susan Shearer (Sales and Marketing Director), has expert experience within the software and IT fields in both New Zealand and Australia. We are all looking forward to exciting times ahead for both organisations. https://www.rotaiq.com

Following the amazing success of the User Groups, SMI have quickly upgraded all customers to the latest Staff.Care upgrade and the feedback has been brilliant. "With the integration of new HR Workflows to Staff.Care, setting up new starters or changing/ending contracts has never been easier. Now, for instance, if you need change a unit for a member of staff it can be done with just a few mouse clicks. We are also tremendously happy with the new Annual Leave calculations, which are tailored to suit our organisation's accrual policy. SMI have really gone out of their way to make Staff.Care a much more streamlined system to use!" says Jonathan Goldsmith - Systems & Management Information Co-ordinator at St Elizabeth's Hospice.

Customers are especially keen on:

1. New HR Workflows
2. New Leaver and Termination Workflows
3. Additional Rota Save Controls
4. Enhanced Leave Reporting
5. Quick Insert of a Training session into an existing shift.

SMI welcome everyone to visit us at the Hospice UK HR Conference in Leeds on 27th September 2018. As well as providing a Supporter's Update, you can visit our stand and meet the team. We look forward to seeing everyone again. Click Here for details You can also see more information on SMI and the software products we provide on the Hospice IQ Services pages Here.

Zero Three Care Homes provide high quality care services to adults with learning disability and complex needs in the Essex area. Following a thorough research of the market place, they decided to replace their existing HR software with Staff.Care for complete management of their workforce.

The team at SMI look forward to working with Saint Catherine's Hospice, who have recently began their implementation of Staff.Care for eRostering, Human Resources and a customised Payroll Interface. We look forward to providing major time and cost savings for the hospice.

Staff Expenses can be managed directly within Staff.Care including via the 'My Staff.Care' self service portal to allow staff to upload their receipts against each expense and submit quickly and simply. This can also be linked to payroll. Contact us today for more information.

Having sampled another rostering supplier, the group plan to roll-out Staff.Care across their organisation following initial pilots across 2 sites with over 600 staff with further acquisitions to follow.

SMI have upgraded our biometric terminals. Don't forget these link directly with Staff.Care allowing you to check your T&A against rotas to avoid payroll mistakes. Swipe cards, key fobs and face recognition are also available plus door entry systems. Ask us for more details.

User Groups are being held in The Midlands and Edinburgh in March. Contact SMI if you want to reserve your place(s). We are showcasing our latest upgrades with lots of great new features including the HR Workflows. We guarantee you will learn something on the day.

SMI have been providing software for nearly 30 years, another equally amazing fact is that 2 staff members have been with SMI for a third of that time, both reaching their 10 years of service within months of each other. Nicola Waite, SMI's Operations Manager and Chris, our Technical Support Analyst are both valuable members of the team and SMI hope we continue having them as treasured colleagues for many more years to come. Two other employees, Matthew Webster and Sean Wright are both coming up to their 10 year and 6 year milestone, respectively this year. Who say's Staff.Care doesn't help you retain staff!

SMI's payroll partner LivePay have once again been selected as the preferred provider of a payroll bureau service to one of our customers. SMI are working with them streamline their monthly payroll by providing a payroll interface between Staff.Care and LivePay, which includes automatic enhancement calculations, multiple contract payments and conflict alerts.

Staff.Care is already fully GDPR Compliant. Full security measures are already in place to ensure your organisation manages your staffing data in line with GDPR guidelines. One of the main advantages of Staff.Care is having all your staffing records managed within one software solution including HR, eRostering, Training Management, Skills & Competencies and Payroll Interface.

Because our customers continue to reap the multiple benefits of Staff.Care, they're opting to renew their contracts without hesitation. Once implemented our customers don't look back and can't imagine returning to their old ways. Staff.Care is one certainty for the future and customers are signing 3-5 year contracts knowing their return on investment is realised immediately AND year on year.

New HR workflows are now available for Contract Changes and new Staff Contract's. Staff Contracts are now completed with minutes with new automatic calculations and balance transfers. Prompts enable you to complete all the requirements whilst linking seamlessly with the rotas.

Over the past few weeks SMI have completely overhauled the autofill making it faster, better and more importantly easier to run.

Faster - the performance has been vastly improved meaning complex fills with 100's of rules now run up to 10 times faster.

Better - ensures all fill stretch rules are allocated fairly, keeping your staff happy whilst still meeting your operational needs.

Easier - Autofill will never break a rule and will roster staff based on their skill mix and service requirements.

SMI have successfully re-launched our iPlanner Scheduling module with more functionality added, providing more visibility across your staff and patient bookings. Ideal for Home Care and clinic bookings, iPlanner links your staff shifts to patient requirements, which in-turn can interface directly with payroll and invoicing. Job lists are sent via texts to staff with an integrated messaging service. Contact SMI today for more information.

SMI welcome two new customer's this month. Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, based in Cambridge, are looking to implement the full suite of services that Staff.Care can provide including eRostering, HR and the T&A interface. Alice House Hospice, based in Hartlepool, have also come on board this month, who want the iPlanner Scheduler module for their homecare services too. SMI look forward to working with both hospices over the coming years.

Having successfully implemented Staff.Care for HR and eRostering purposes, the next stage for our customers is the Payroll (T&A) Interface. This interface simply streamlines the whole payroll process automatically. Because Staff.Care provides precise data directly to your payroll software, you are assured the data, enhancement calculations and pay are accurate. The Payroll Interface has proven to save money and hours of administration time. This service is available to ALL Staff.Care customers so if you haven't implemented it yet - what are you waiting for?

The SMI Team simply love the User Groups. Meeting our customers and seeing their enthusiasm for our software is one of the most rewarding aspects of the service we provide. Again, lots of wonderful comments about the new look and feel, words like 'WOW' and 'Brilliant' in adundance. As well as demonstrating Staff.Care, we also discussed further improvements with everyone, gaining invaluable feedback from our customers. We're now all looking forward to Phase 2 of the development program - watch this space and see you all again soon!

Following up from a previous news story, hear what one of our customers had to say on the new Staff.Care system: "The new Staff.Care front end is a much more professional, sleek and all round easier to use system than previous. It is clear that every effort has gone in to making sure that Staff.Care has a more refined look whilst also maintaining the same ease of use as before, with some great added extras!" - Jonathan Goldsmith, iCare & Staff.Care Administrator at St Elizabeth Hospice

The first of the SMI Staff.Care User Groups started with a roaring success. Delegates enjoyed seeing the new HTML5 Upgrade and learnt lots more about the new functionality whilst having their say about future developments planned for later this year. The feedback from our customers has been fantastic - the day was enjoyed by all, thank you to all those who attended.

"I have demoed the new front end of Staff.Care to all customers whom have moved across so far and the feedback has literally blown me away.

I have heard more than a few ooh's and wow's over the past month or so upon showing off the new look Staff.Care to our current and some prospective customers - Sean Wright: Software Project Integration Manager

The latest major Staff.Care release passed successful BETA Testing and is now in the live stages with customers already having upgrades completed today (6th March 2017). Feedback has been very positive and those customers who have already upgraded have increased their already high levels of enthusiasm for Staff.Care providing eRostering and HR functionality. Overview demonstrations are available to all customers prior to the upgrade. Have you booked yours? You will sure want to... "We want it now!" and "How soon can we be upgraded?" has been the re-occuring theme for those who have already had the demo!

Contact SMI today via our Contact Page for your demonstration and to book your upgrade.

The project involved bespoke creation of an HL7 Queuing system for specific data entered within iCare for patient demographic, assessment and medication information. This is then fed via an HL7 service to a central patient information system covering the whole of West Kent CCG. SMI were involved from the very beginning all the way through to implementation.

"SMI provided Heart of Kent Hospice with a great service when implementing the CPMS project. The team were always there for us and were never fazed by any questions or queries. They were a great support to us throughout" says Christina Eldridge, Information Manager.

Having Staff.Care embedded within the organisation, Bolton Hospice reached the final phase of the project by implementing the T&A (Payroll) interface. Staff.Care and the T&A works to the rules provided and therefore inconsistencies no longer occur. Now all the rules are established, an accurate and reliable payroll run is able to be delivered instantly! says Julie McArthur, Data & IT Manager at Bolton Hospice. Click for Case Study.