The Challenge
At Oakfield Support Services, the care itself was the easy part. The team were experienced, committed, and genuinely person-centred in how they worked. But every time a new referral came in, the coordinator faced the same sprawling to-do list before anyone could actually start supporting that person. A Word document intake form was emailed out to the referrer or family. Then the waiting began. If it came back quickly, great. Usually it didn't. Once it arrived, the coordinator manually re-entered all the information into their care management system, drafted a care plan template from scratch with the client's details, emailed the relevant key workers to introduce the new placement, sent a welcome letter to the family, raised a billing setup request, and tried to get a key worker introduction meeting in the diary before the start date. None of these tasks were especially complicated on their own. But they were all dependent on each other, all sitting with one person, and all competing for time in a role that had no shortage of other demands. From referral accepted to everything in place routinely took five to seven days. On more than one occasion, a new client had started before their care plan was finalised or their key worker had been properly briefed. That is not a staffing problem. That is a systems problem.
Our Strategy
We built Oakfield Support Services a branded client intake app that now handles the entire referral-to-ready process. When a new client is confirmed, the coordinator sends a secure intake link to the referrer or family. The form captures everything needed to get started: personal details, communication preferences, health and support needs, emergency contacts, and consent. It is clean, accessible, and works on any device. The moment the form is submitted, nine things happen automatically. The client's details are stored and timestamped in a secure database. An initial care plan template is generated with all their information pre-populated, ready for the coordinator to build on. Relevant key workers receive an introduction briefing by email. The family receives a personalised welcome message outlining what happens next. A billing setup notification is sent internally. A key worker introduction meeting is scheduled and added to the calendar. A pre-start checklist is created and assigned to the key worker. A manager notification confirms the referral is live and ready to progress. The coordinator reviews everything in one place, makes any additions needed to the care plan draft, and the client is ready to start. What used to take five to seven days of chasing, re-entering, and coordinating now takes less than a day from form submission to everything in place.
The Results
cut from referral accepted to care ready
automated from a single form submission
