How AI is optimising home care routes : A Care Provider’s Story | EP. 11 w/ Jonathan McFarlane

Most care providers sit on years of outcomes data they never really use. Ellis Jenkins got tired of waiting for someone to build the platform his organisation needed, so he went to a university and had them build it with him. Ellis is owner and CEO of Expanding Horizons, a South Wales provider of supported living and residential care for adults with mental health needs, learning disabilities and complex needs. In this episode we get into how a 20-year-old Excel spreadsheet became a custom AI outcomes platform, and the practical decisions behind it. Chapters 00:54 Why Tools Fell Short 03:09 Excel Framework Explained 04:43 Finding Smart Partnership 06:18 Funding and Team Buy In 08:52 Building With Universities 11:54 Service Scale and Context 12:55 From Reactive to Proactive 18:56 Assessments Dictation Feature 19:55 Privacy Security and Governance 22:46 Consent and Family Transparency 26:24 Trial Hopes and Change Management 31:35 Advice and Sharing the IP 33:56 Wrap Up and Contact Links Links - Expanding Horizons: https://www.expanding-horizons.co.uk - Ellis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellis-jenkins-651770155 - David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance About David Mance is an independent AI trainer and adviser for UK social care, and founder of AIinSocialCare.com If you're working out how to bring AI in safely – governance, staff training, choosing the right tools – get in touch at aiinsocialcare.com. #aiinsocialcare #socialcare #supportedliving #caresector #artificialintelligence --- ## Pull quotes (Ellis) "We sit on a goldmine of data that tells us a huge story." "Nothing will get published or approved without somebody saying, yes, I'm happy with that, and putting our name to it." "If somebody doesn't want to use this software in regards to their care, that's not a problem. I respect that." "I fell into social care. But it's one of those things that when it's got you, it doesn't let you go."

Kevin Humphrys runs two care homes. He also built his own AI stack, with no tech background and no tech department, tool by tool, learning as he went. This is his second time on the podcast, and a lot has changed since the first. We go right back to the start: realising he couldn't use Claude with resident data, and what he did about it. Then we walk the whole stack. Secure AI through CareSpace. Voice agents handling out-of-hours enquiries with Maxxo AI. Pre-admission assessments recorded and turned into a care plan in minutes instead of hours, with Emma AI. Predictive health monitoring that flags small declines before they become big ones, with PredictaAI. And then the part almost nobody in care is talking about: running an AI model locally, on a machine in your own office, so your data never leaves the building and you just pay one up-front cost. Plus, the new CQC guidance on AI, and why it reassured him. If you've heard a lot of AI talk and not much you can actually do on Monday, this one is for you. Kevin is not a tech person. That's the whole point. **Chapters** [00:00] The returning guest, and going back to the start [01:10] Hitting the wall: why consumer AI couldn't touch resident data [03:30] The fix: CareSpace, redaction in the background, and where Copilot fits [08:10] The new CQC guidance on AI, and why it reassured him [11:24] Governance from three pages to 56, built on the seven principles [17:00] Voice agents for out-of-hours enquiries, without replacing the human [23:54] Recording the pre-admission assessment: four hours down to 20 minutes [28:02] Predictive health monitoring, and catching the small declines [34:47] Running AI locally, so your data never leaves the building [46:54] Why it's not either/or, and the data we let gather dust [50:03] Where to start, and how to reach Kevin **Tools mentioned:** CareSpace, Microsoft Copilot, Maxxo AI, Emma AI, PredictaAI, Nourish, LM Studio, Open WebUI, the NVIDIA Spark. Plus, the AI in Care Alliance (formerly the Oxford Initiative on Generative AI) and its seven principles, and the new CQC guidance on AI. **Guest:** Kevin Humphrys, CEO, Oakland Care Group. Find him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-humphrys/ **About:** David Mance is an independent AI consultant for UK social care, and host of the AI in Social Care podcast. Independent, no vendor commissions, honest about what AI can't do as well as what it can. Find everything at https://aiinsocialcare.com/

Jon Healy spent 20 years as a carer. A year ago, a medical episode took most of his sight, and overnight his life was radically altered. In this episode he talks about what that taught him. The everyday accessibility tools that turned out to be a lifeline. The job he can still do, just differently. And the surprising ways AI has opened up new work rather than just speeding up the old. We get into the co-produced course his service users led, which snowballed into a graduation, a recipe book, a book club and a regular quiz. The practical AI wins, from a traffic-free walking route to a World Cup planner built for people who find reading hard. And his honest, measured take on where AI helps in care and where the human has to stay in charge. Jon also shares the moment AI found a 1981 legal precedent and resolved a tribunal case without a hearing. A warm, grounded conversation about care, technology and seeing the world differently. Timestamps 00:00 Jon's story, 20 years in care 01:13 Losing his sight, and relearning everything 02:33 The accessibility setup that keeps him working 08:00 A new perspective: becoming an advocate 10:47 The course that snowballed into a graduation 17:41 How AI actually gets used, day to day 21:37 Advocacy at Parliament, and why care is undervalued 29:46 Where AI could go wrong in care 33:36 What good training looks like 35:31 The 1981 case law that won a tribunal

Most conversations about AI and the care workforce focus on risk, resistance, and what staff don't know. Katie Thorn, Head of Innovation at Digital Care Hub, makes the opposite argument: care workers already have the skills AI needs most. In this episode, we talk about why communication and empathy are actually an advantage with large language models, the real reason a template AI policy doesn't exist yet, and what the government's "fully digitised by 2029" plan doesn’t go far enough. Katie is also co-founder of the AI and Social Care Alliance – and we cover how that came about, the gender gap in care, job displacement fears, and what frontline workers really think about AI investment. In this episode: 01:06 – What Digital Care Hub does (and what it doesn't) 04:07 – How the AI and Social Care Alliance came about 08:47 – Where to go if you want to get up to speed 10:01 – Communication skills as prompting skills 16:37 – Women are 20% more likely to live in digital poverty – and they're 85% of your workforce 19:00 – What a frontline worker said at the first Alliance roundtable 21:09 – Could AI job losses be a recruitment opportunity for care? 24:09 – Why Digital Care Hub hasn’t published a template AI policy (yet) 27:46 – Making AI governance work at board level 34:31 – What good employer-led AI training actually looks like 37:15 – Katie's background: growing up in a nursing home 40:27 – The expensive lesson from picking the wrong tech system 45:45 – Why "fully digitised by 2029" doesn't go far enough Katie links https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/ Podcast: Control Plus Care: https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/podcast/ AI in Care Alliance: https://aiincarealliance.co.uk/ [COMING SOON] David Mance – CPD-certified AI trainer and consultant for the social care sector. Get resources and tutorials: https://aiinsocialcare.com/

Small providers make up 80% of the care home market, yet when it comes to technology and AI, they're often the last to get support. In this episode, I sit down with Samir Patel – care home owner, operator, and founder of the Care Home Digi Hive community – to talk about his 20-year journey from paper chaos to practical AI implementation. Samir shares the lightbulb moments that pushed him toward tech, the £25,000 mistake that taught him everything about change management, and why he believes care homes should start with "back office" AI before touching resident data. Whether you're a startup or a large provider, this conversation is packed with hard-won lessons on making technology work without overwhelming your team. Find out more about the Digihive community: https://www.carehomedigihive.com/ Samir's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-patel-07684912/ Samir's podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iCareServicesUK/featured And on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKDdIwu5H9ke3dYOPdfu4?si=34c25c9a3559497a&nd=1&dlsi=c30ae3c960dc4482 David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/ AIinSocial Care tutorials, podcast and more: https://aiinsocialcare.com/