Every sector · Every size of organisation
Get started in 5 simple steps
No technical knowledge needed. If you can use email, you can set up CareFocusIQ — and bring your existing records with you.
What CareFocusIQ does
Six things your service gets from day one
CareFocusIQ is the all-in-one care management app for care homes, home care, children’s services, supported living and clinical teams. Carers speak their notes, managers stay inspection-ready, and owners see where money is being lost — all in one place.
How it works together
Enter it once. It works everywhere.
Spot
Problems surface on their own — from shifts, incidents, families and ratings.
Shift clock & live location · Live CQC rating · Care plan review prompts · Family logins with consent · Monthly staff pulse · Staff experience ↔ quality patterns · Today board
Act
Each one becomes a single action with an owner, a deadline and the evidence needed.
CQC report → 12-week recovery · Improvement Tracker · Complaints & compliments · Career pathways
Check
Re-checks, audits and supervision confirm it really improved.
Audits that close the loop · Audit library & risk-based scheduling · Manager approval of evidence · Supervision, induction & competency
Prove
Results land in your 90-day report and evidence pack automatically.
90-day programme · Evidence pack · Executive cross-home risk view
The five steps
Most organisations are up and running the same day.
- 1
Sign up and choose your sector
Start a free trial with your email. Pick the type of service you run — the app changes its words and menus to suit you.
- 2
Add the people you support
Add them one at a time, or upload a spreadsheet using our ready-made template. Everyone appears at once.
- 3
Add your team
Managers go to People → “Add team member”. Each person gets a temporary password to sign in.
- 4
Load your existing records and files
Spreadsheets, Word documents, PDFs and scanned paper can all be brought in. See the table below for where each one goes.
- 5
Invite families and start recording
Share a Family Portal link so families can see updates and reply. Staff can press Dictate and speak their notes.
Choose your sector
Tap your type of service to see exactly what to set up first and which records to bring.
Adults
Children & young people
Community & cross-sector
Adult Care Homes
Residential & nursing care for adults and older people. In the app, the people you support are called residents.
Set these up first
- 1People (residents)
- 2Care plans
- 3Medications & MAR
- 4Daily care notes
- 5Incidents & falls
- 6CQC inspection readiness
Records to have ready
- A list of the people you support (names, dates of birth, NHS numbers)
- Current care plans and risk assessments
- Medication records (MAR charts)
- Next of kin and GP details
- Staff list with roles and training dates
Top tip: Start with residents and medication — these are what inspectors look at first.
What kind of organisation are you?
The same simple steps work whatever your size — here is the order we suggest.
A single service
One home, school, scheme or office.
- 1.Sign up and choose your sector
- 2.Add your people from a spreadsheet
- 3.Add your staff
- 4.Start daily notes the same day
A small group (2–10 services)
Several homes or schemes under one provider.
- 1.Sign up once for the whole provider
- 2.Add each service under Organisation
- 3.Give each registered manager a manager login
- 4.Managers load their own people and staff
A large or multi-sector provider
Many services, possibly adults and children.
- 1.Set your head office up first
- 2.Add regions and services under Organisation
- 3.Regional managers get regional-manager access
- 4.Use the director and board dashboards to see everything
A local authority, charity or trust
Commissioners, councils and voluntary organisations.
- 1.Start with one pilot team
- 2.Load existing records with the Records Moderniser
- 3.Invite partner agencies and families
- 4.Roll out to other teams once the pilot is working
How do I load my own records and files?
Find the kind of file you have, then follow where it goes once you have signed in.
A spreadsheet of the people you support (Excel or CSV)
Residents (or your sector’s name for them) → “Bulk upload”
Download our template, copy your columns into it, save as CSV and upload. Everyone appears at once.
Care plans or support plans in a spreadsheet
Care Plan Loader
Follow the on-screen steps to match your columns and import them.
Paper, Word or PDF records
Records Moderniser
Scan or upload the file. The app reads it and turns it into tidy, structured records for you to check.
Policies, certificates, contracts and insurance
Documents → “Upload a document”
Pick the file, give it a name and an expiry date. You can then see at a glance when it needs renewing.
A list of staff
People → “Add team member”
Add each person’s name and email. They get a temporary password to sign in.
Nothing on paper yet?
Start fresh
Add people one at a time with the “Add” button and use Dictate to speak notes instead of typing.
Download the spreadsheet template
Open it in Excel, fill one row per person, save as CSV and upload it.
What you’ll need before you start
- An email address for yourself (you become the administrator)
- The name of your organisation and your sector
- A list of the people you support — even a simple spreadsheet or written list is fine
- Your staff names and email addresses
- Any existing care, support or placement plans (paper, Word, PDF or spreadsheet)
- Key documents: policies, insurance and registration certificates
Don’t have everything? That’s fine — you can start with just your email and add the rest later.
Ready when you are
Once you sign in, the Start Here checklist walks you through every step.