Guides
Moving from paper to digital care records: a practical guide for providers
Pelp Care · · 7 min read
Many care providers in the UK are moving from paper records, or from a mix of paper, spreadsheets and shared drives, to digital social care records. Government and the NHS have encouraged adult social care providers in England to adopt digital records, and many children’s services are making the same change.
Going digital can make records easier to find, easier to read and easier to share with the right people. It can also be disruptive if it is rushed. This guide covers how to plan the move so that care continues safely throughout.
Be clear about why you are changing
Start by agreeing what you want to improve. It might be the time staff spend recording, the difficulty of finding information before reviews, the risk of lost paperwork or the effort involved in preparing for inspection.
Writing these goals down helps you choose the right system, explain the change to your team and check later whether it has worked.
Involve your team from the start
The people who will use the system every day should help choose it. Support workers will quickly tell you whether recording feels natural on a phone, and senior staff will know which reports and checks matter most.
Some staff may feel anxious about technology, or worried that digital records mean being watched more closely. Talk openly about what will change, what will not and how people will be supported.
Decide what to migrate, and what to archive
Not every historical document needs to be moved into a new system. Agree which current information must be available digitally from day one, such as care plans, risk assessments, key contacts and recent notes, and how older paper records will be stored and retained in line with your policies.
- Current care and support plans, and risk assessments
- Key personal information, contacts and preferences
- Health information, allergies and medication details
- Recent daily notes and any open incidents or concerns
- Upcoming reviews, appointments and outstanding tasks
Plan the switchover carefully
Running paper and digital records side by side for too long creates confusion about which one is the true record. Running them for too short a time can leave gaps. Agree a clear start date, decide how long any overlap will last and make sure everyone knows which record to use.
Some providers start with one service or one team, learn from that, then roll out more widely.
Train for real situations
Training is most effective when it uses realistic examples from your own service. Practise recording a daily note, an incident and a handover. Make sure staff know who to ask for help, particularly on night shifts and at weekends.
Ask the right questions about data and access
Care records contain sensitive personal information, so it is important to understand how a digital system protects it. Ask suppliers where data is hosted, how permissions work for different roles, whether there is an audit trail and how you could export your records if you ever changed system. Ask for evidence of any certifications or assurances they mention.
Review after the first few months
Once the system is in use, go back to the goals you set at the start. Ask staff what is working and what is not. Look at whether records are more complete, whether managers can find information more easily and whether anything has become harder.
Pelp is being built to make that first step into digital records feel natural for support workers, with recording in their own words and connected records around each Individual. We are developing it with feedback from people who work in care.