Four lessons from the Evolution Theatre at Care Show Birmingham 2026
At OneTouch, one platform is leading the Evolution of Care. That means less admin, fewer hand-offs and more time to care.
At Care Show Birmingham 2026, held at the NEC, four of our product leaders spoke in the Evolution Theatre. Group CTO Seán Morris made the case for one connected platform, and Group Head of Product Conor Hynes covered smarter scheduling. Product Managers Emma Moloney and Jessica Schwitek covered AI-drafted care plans, and automated billing, payroll and reporting. Seán’s talk set the theme, and the other three showed it in practice: your records, your rota and your rating. The common thread: providers can’t hire their way out of the workforce gap, so the gains have to come from every hour already worked.
Why can’t care providers hire their way out?
Seán Morris set out the numbers. In England, 23.6% of care workers in the independent sector leave each year, and 9.1% of homecare posts are vacant, around four times the 2.2% rate across the wider economy (Skills for Care, 2025/26). Many homecare providers run on margins of 0–4%, with staffing around 70% of the cost of care (Homecare Association). Demand keeps rising: the sector needs around 410,000 more posts by 2040.
CQC is also inspecting more, with a new adult social care framework due from late 2026.
Seán’s answer was one connected thread: plan it, deliver it, prove it, on one record. The visit that is scheduled is the visit that is delivered, evidenced, paid and invoiced, with nothing re-keyed. The value sits where tools meet, such as training records stopping unqualified carers being rostered, or care notes feeding CQC-ready reporting.
For an example provider with 200 carers and 5,000 care hours a week, published industry data suggests these efficiencies could be worth £45k–£95k a year and 30–45 hours a week handed back. These are illustrative estimates, not OneTouch customer results.
“Plan it, deliver it, prove it, on one record” runs through each of the talks that follow.
How can AI speed up care planning without losing oversight?
Emma Moloney began in the client’s home, where the assessor’s conversation with the client becomes the draft plan, through Voice to Care Plan. She then set out a baseline from OneTouch research with seven providers (July–August 2026): up to six hours of admin per new client assessment, from first visit to a care plan a carer can use. The assessment is often typed twice: on paper in the home, then again at the office, re-keying the same details into the care plan, the risk assessments and the tasks.
With OneTouch, it works in three steps:
- The assessor records the visit as one natural conversation, in your own template.
- OneTouch drafts the plan: goals, tasks, risks and about-me sections, each linked to a need. The about-me section means what the client says about themselves shapes their plan.
- A named care manager approves every section. Nothing reaches the record until they approve it, and the audit trail records who approved what and when.
Standard assessments (NEWS2, Braden, Fluid Balance, NICE Falls and MUST) are live today. Template Builder, Voice to Care Plan and Care Plan Assistant are in beta, with AI summaries of care notes and care plan changes planned for Q1 2027.
How do you fill rota gaps faster and cut agency spend?
Conor Hynes opened with a typical Wednesday morning. At 6:58am, a single coordinator gets three sick calls and suddenly has forty visits to cover. Finding replacements means phone calls and spreadsheets, and when gaps are spotted too late, it means providers fall back on expensive agency staff. With OneTouch, by 7:00am the forty visits are covered and the coordinator has approved each swap.
The problem is structural as well as daily. OneTouch scheduling interviews (April–September 2026) found one scheduler can safely manage about 700 care hours a week, while one provider’s growth plan needs more than 3,000. From 2027, guaranteed-hours rules under the Employment Rights Act 2025 will add another constraint to every rota.
OneTouch’s approach keeps the coordinator in control, and the aim is for every client to get the carer they know:
- Unified View puts carers, clients, runs and wallcharts side by side, so five screens become one.
- Smart Suggestions rank best-fit cover by continuity, availability and distance, with the reasons shown.
- The coordinator approves every change. Nothing publishes on its own.
How can care providers speed up billing, payroll and reporting?
Jessica Schwitek described month-end as a rebuild: visits exported to spreadsheets, reports rebuilt overnight in Power BI or Excel. One OneTouch customer has cut an invoice run from five days to a day and a half, saving 3.5 days (customer interview, June–July 2026). With OneTouch, month-end goes from a rebuild to a review.
The flow runs from the visit to the answer:
- The carer completes the visit, which is clocked, confirmed and approved as a timesheet.
- OneTouch runs pay and invoicing, with exports to your payroll and finance provider.
- The manager asks and sees, through live Power BI Insights or a plain-English question answered with its source shown, and gets their evening back.
Automated pay and billing runs and embedded Power BI reports are live today. The AI assistant connection is in beta: read-only, sourced and logged. Executive KPI reporting is next, planned for Q4 2026.
What’s next
Considering a move? We’ve just made switching a lot easier: your care plans and records come with you. We’ll support you at every step.
Existing customers: you’re already part of the Evolution of Care. Here’s what’s next. Join our betas and try the new tools first. To join the beta programme, email beta@onetouchhealth.net.
Six tools. One record of care. One Platform, Leading the Evolution of Care.
Frequently asked questions
What is OneTouch?
OneTouch is connected care management technology for care providers: six tools on one record of care, so data entered once is used everywhere.
Does OneTouch AI write care plans on its own?
No. OneTouch drafts a care plan from the assessment conversation, and a care manager edits and approves it before any carer sees it.
Is it safe to ask the AI assistant about care data?
The connection is read-only, every answer cites its source, administrators control which tools are on, and every query is logged for a full audit trail.
Which features are live today?
Automated pay and billing runs, embedded Power BI reports and standard clinical assessments are live. Voice to Care Plan, Template Builder, Care Plan Assistant, Unified View, Smart Suggestions and the AI assistant connection are in beta.
See it for yourself
Book a 20-minute demo and bring your hardest rota problem, one of your assessment templates or a month-end question. We’ll show you how OneTouch handles it. To join the beta programme, email beta@onetouchhealth.net.
OneTouch is connected care management technology for UK care providers. Recruitment, training, scheduling, care records, governance and billing sit on one platform, sharing one record of care.
Features shown may not be included in your current licensing tier. Roadmap items and dates are subject to change.
