A text at 7am
A new carer is covering a morning call for a client they have never met. They arrive and the client cannot come to the door. The rota says 'key safe'. The code is not there. The carer rings the office, which is not open yet. They ring the on-call phone, and the coordinator texts the code from memory, or from a notebook, or from an old WhatsApp message.
The code now sits in the carer's phone indefinitely. It also sits in the WhatsApp group from two years ago, which includes carers who have since left. Nobody has changed the code since the client started.
Why access details spread
Carers need access details at the door, often early in the morning, sometimes for a client they do not know. The quickest route has always been a text or a note on the rota. That works in the moment, and leaves a trail of codes in places nobody controls.
Codes are rarely changed. There is no record of who has been given each code, so nobody knows when it should change. Changing a code also means telling everyone who still needs it, which is another round of texts.
Access instructions are more than codes: which door, where the dog is, how to wake a client with hearing loss, the alarm. These end up in the same informal places.
What informal sharing risks
| Weak point | Risk |
|---|---|
| Codes in personal messages | Kept by carers who no longer visit |
| Old group chats | Former staff still have codes |
| Codes never changed | No way to know who knows them |
| Details not at hand | Carers locked out, calls late |
| Instructions scattered | Carers surprised by dogs, alarms or doors |
Clients and families trust the agency with access to their home. The agency often cannot say who has that access, which is uncomfortable when something goes missing or a relationship with a carer ends badly.
Secure access details
- Access details stored against each client in an encrypted record: key safe location and code, door, alarm, pets, and anything else a carer needs to get in safely.
- Carers see details in their app only for clients on their schedule, only within a window around the call, and only after logging in.
- Every view recorded, so you know who has seen each code and when.
- A code change prompt when a carer who has viewed a code leaves the agency or stops visiting, with a task to arrange the change with the client or family.
- On-call access for coordinators out of hours, so a code can be released to a carer through the app rather than by text.
- Where your carer app has an API, details appear in it. Otherwise we build a small secure access screen carers open from a link.
Who is allowed access to a client's home is a matter between you, the client and their family. The system records and controls what you decide.
A morning call without the text
The carer covering the call opens their app, sees the access details for the calls on their run and gets in. The office does not need to be open. No code travels by text. When a carer leaves, you get a list of the codes they have seen and can arrange changes with the families.
When a family asks who has access to their relative's home, you can answer.
Could this be your agency?
- Key safe codes are sent by text or WhatsApp
- Old group chats still contain client codes
- Codes are rarely changed when carers leave
- Carers ring on-call because they cannot get in
- You cannot say who has access to each client's home