"We had bought software twice for a problem that turned out to be a pick list in the wrong order. Clearline spent two weeks watching us work before they suggested anything. Late deliveries went from 18% to 3% and I have my Saturdays back."
Bramble Care rota rebuild
A hundred and twenty carers, four coordinators, and a rota that was rewritten every morning. We gave it a shape it could keep.
What was going wrong
Bramble Care visit 400 people a week across two counties. The rota was built on Friday for the week ahead and then rebuilt every morning as calls came in. Coordinators spent the first two hours of the day on the phone, overtime ran at £31,000 a quarter, and a third of carers left within a year of joining.
What we changed
We stopped looking at the software and looked at the week. Rotas now go out a fortnight ahead with a named second carer for every run, sickness is called into one number before 7am, and the coordinators hold a fifteen-minute handover at 8.15 instead of four separate phone queues. Nothing new was bought.
Where it landed
Overtime is £9,000 a quarter. Carers see their fortnight on a Thursday and plan around it, and turnover has halved. The coordinators got their mornings back and now spend them on the calls that need a person rather than a rota.
What clients say
"They wrote down the pricing rules we had been carrying in one person’s head, trained two others on them, and left. Quotes now go back in two days instead of nine, and we can see which ones we lose."
"Our rota was rebuilt every morning by whoever answered the phone first. It now goes out a fortnight ahead with named cover. Overtime fell from £31,000 a quarter to £9,000 and our carers stay."
"I expected a deck. What I got was three routines written on one page each, owned by people who are not me, and a number on the wall for each of them. The week is quieter and the business is not."