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Prescription data, care plans, safeguarding reports, HR management and real-time client data all in one place: that is what Zuri, developed by local company Care Software Solutions, offers to carers.
Company founder, Cheryl Kenealy, is among the four finalists of the inaugural Bailiwick Business Academy and will soon be facing the investors, which include Aaron Chatterley, founder of Feel Unique, Simon Perée, founder of Play.com, and Zef Eisenberg, founder of sports food brand Maximuscle.
Zuri’s logo is an inverted symbol for ‘strength’ in Swahili. Fitting, as Cheryl’s new care software hopes to make the process of looking after people more robust.
She started her professional life as a nurse in South Africa at 18 - “I’ve always just has a desire to help people” - dotting between there and London for decades until she settled in Jersey 14 years ago. Now with a nursing home and home care agency under her belt, it’s safe to say she knows a lot about care and exactly what’s needed to make it better.
That, according to Cheryl, is a ‘do-it- all’ paperless system that combines prescription data, care plans, safeguarding reports, HR management and real-time client data on anything from their oxygen levels to blood sugar concentration.
“You can’t just tell someone, ‘Take my mum to the toilet.’ You might need to know if she needs a Zimmer frame, or other support – you need a lot of information for a simple task if you’re a carer,” she explained. “The most important bit was having it in real-time. The idea of something offline didn’t work because if someone had a fall in the night, then no one else would know what happened.”
Pictured: Zuri is accessible to carers as well as to the client and their family.
But the software, which she developed despite not having “one scoobie” of techspertise, isn’t just for carers. It’s designed to link into GPs’ systems, and be accessible to both the client and their family too. Families can send their relatives photos and documents through a client portal – “they can upload their grandson’s 21 st photos if granny couldn’t go” – and can also “check if mum’s had breakfast.”
She believes her invention could help governments save money too – “GPs and nurses can have access to what we’re storing, so they can discharge sooner and reduce hospital admissions because you can see if they’re getting appropriate care at home.”
Perhaps the biggest draw is that Zuri, which is GDPR ready, is so adaptable. It can hook up to ‘the Internet of Things’ – transferring information seamlessly from
devices via wifi, even those that track if an elderly relative falls, or is about to fall. “Wireless blood pressure monitors, oxygen monitors, diabetic blood sugar monitors, room temperature, humidity, noise levels – we can monitor all of that. The platform is really versatile and agile… Zuri can do absolutely everything you need.”
On 5 March, Zuri will be one of the four finalists to go before the potential investors in the Bailiwick Business Academy, including Aaron Chatterley, Simon Perée and Zef Eisenberg.
Whether they invest or not is a personal choice - but they will decide on one winner who will receive mentoring, £10,000 of advertising with Bailiwick Express, £5,000 of marketing support from Orchid and six months free office space with Regus.
Over the next few days, Express will be profiling each of the finalists. Then, next Tuesday, you will be able have your say on our daily news e-mail on which one you think should win.
The Academy is supported by Carey Olsen, Jersey Business, Orchid, Envestors, Regus, Sancus and Start-up Guernsey.
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