One of the hardest parts of arranging care for a parent is the not-knowing. You can’t be there every day. You don’t want to call your Mum every morning to interrogate her about whether the carer turned up. Your sister lives in Edinburgh and wants to be involved without ringing you for updates. Your brother just wants to know that the medication is being taken.
Birdie, our family app, is how we solve this. It gives the people you choose a clear, real-time picture of every visit: who came, when they came, what they did, what they noticed, and what the next visit looks like. The reassurance is significant. Several families tell us it’s the thing they miss most if they ever go back to a provider without it.
This page explains what the app does, who can see what, and how privacy and consent are handled.
Full transcript
It's really important that me and the whole team trust what Birdie gives to us and the information it gives, because the more trust we put in the information, the better informed decision we can make. And given the decisions that we make impact real people, our real clients and the quality of care they receive, it's super important that we get that right.
It's really important that me and the whole team trust what Birdie gives to us, because the more trust we put in the information, the better informed decision we can make. And given that the decisions we make impact real people, our real clients and the quality of care they receive, it's super important we get that right.
What the Birdie family app shows
The app gives you a window into care without intruding on the care itself. The features your family will see:
Visit schedule and confirmation. A weekly view of upcoming visits, with the carer’s name, planned arrival time and visit length. When a carer arrives, the app confirms it. When the visit ends, the app confirms that too.
Carer notes and observations. After each visit, the carer writes a short note: what they did, how the client seemed, anything worth flagging. Notes are factual and kind, not clinical jargon. You can read every note in the app or get a daily summary.
Wellbeing and mood tracking. Carers record how the person seemed in mood and energy on each visit. Over time, this creates a pattern that’s useful for noticing gradual changes that might otherwise get missed.
Medication administration records. Where we administer medication as part of the care plan, the app records what was given and when, alongside any concerns about a missed dose, a refusal or a side effect.
Secure messaging with the care team. You can send a message to the office directly from the app. We respond during office hours (8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday) and the message is logged against the care record, so nothing important gets lost in a text thread.
Photo sharing, with consent. With explicit consent from the person receiving care, carers can share occasional photos in the app — for example after a haircut, a birthday visit, or a moment that families would want to see. Photos are stored in Birdie’s GDPR-compliant system, not on a carer’s personal phone. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
Activity logs. A simple record of what happened on each visit, including any tasks completed (washing, dressing, meal preparation), any tasks declined, and anything outside the care plan that was attended to.
Real-time updates. If there’s a concern, a missed visit or a change, you find out when it happens, not three days later.
Who can see what
Not every family member needs the same level of access. Birdie supports different permission levels, which we set up with you at the care planning stage.
- The person receiving care sees their own care record in the app, if they want to.
- A primary family contact typically gets full access to visit notes, medication records, messages and photos.
- Other family members can be given view-only access to visit confirmations and key updates, without seeing the detailed notes.
- Professional contacts (a social worker, district nurse or hospital coordinator) can be added with appropriate access where the care plan benefits.
You decide who’s on the list and what they see. Changing permissions is straightforward and we’ll make the change for you.
Why we use Birdie rather than text messages or email
It’s a fair question. Some smaller providers send daily WhatsApp messages or emails to families. The reasons we use Birdie rather than that approach:
It’s part of a regulated care record. Birdie isn’t a marketing tool. It’s the digital care management system carers use during the visit. The notes you see are the notes that sit in the care record the CQC sees.
It’s secure and GDPR-compliant. Care information includes personal data about health. UK GDPR sets a high bar for how that information is stored, accessed and shared. Birdie is built around that bar. A care record in WhatsApp isn’t.
It separates personal phones from care. Our carers don’t send messages or photos from their own phones. Everything goes through the Birdie app on a work device, which means there’s no expectation on carers to be available on personal channels, no chance of accidental misdirected messages, and no concern about photos sitting in a carer’s personal camera roll.
It scales without becoming chaotic. A family with three siblings and two professional contacts can have everyone informed without anyone having to forward updates between WhatsApp groups.
What happens at the start of care
When care begins, we set up the family app with you in the assessment meeting. The steps:
- You tell us who needs access. Usually a primary family contact plus one or two others.
- We confirm consent for the person receiving care, including for photo sharing if you’d like that included.
- We send each invited person a sign-up link. Setup takes a few minutes on a phone or tablet.
- Visits start. Notes and updates appear in the app from the first visit onward.
- We review after the first month and adjust access, frequency of notifications and the level of detail if it isn’t working for your family.
Some families want every detail. Some want a daily summary and not a buzz after every visit. Birdie can be tuned either way, and the office is happy to help you set it up the way that actually works for you.
What about families who prefer paper or a phone call?
The app suits most families. It doesn’t suit all of them. If you’d rather have a paper care plan and a weekly phone call from the office, we can do that too. The underlying care record sits in Birdie either way; the question is just how we share it with you.
For older clients who don’t use smartphones, this is often the right answer. The adult children use the app for visibility. The client themself prefers a familiar carer, a printed weekly rota and a paper note in the kitchen drawer.
A word on privacy and consent
A few principles we hold to:
The person receiving care comes first. If they don’t want photos shared, photos don’t get shared. If they don’t want a particular family member to see their care notes, we honour that. Consent rests with the person receiving care, not with the family.
Information shared is information needed. We won’t share clinical detail beyond what’s helpful for the people supporting care at home. Detailed medical information stays in the care record and is shared with GPs, district nurses or hospital teams as appropriate, not pushed to family by default.
Consent can be changed at any time. If you want to add a family member, remove a family member, change what someone can see, or stop photos altogether, tell us and we’ll do it.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK regulator for data protection. If you have a concern about how we handle data about you or your family member, you can raise it with us first, and you can also raise it with the ICO.
Frequently asked questions
How do families stay updated about visits at Helping at Home?
We use Birdie, a care management system with a family app. Families can see visit schedules, real-time confirmation when carers arrive and leave, visit notes, medication records, wellbeing observations and (with consent) occasional photos. Secure messaging with the office is included.
Is the Birdie family app free for families?
Yes. There is no additional charge for family members to access the app. It is included as part of the care service.
Can multiple family members get access?
Yes. We typically set up a primary family contact plus other family members at view-only or full access depending on what you want. Permissions are flexible and easy to change.
Is information in the Birdie app secure?
Birdie is built to meet UK GDPR standards for handling sensitive health data. Information stays inside the secure app and is not stored on individual carer phones. We hold to the same standards in how we handle messages and photos.
Can photos be shared between the carer and family?
With explicit consent from the person receiving care, yes. Photos are taken on work devices, stored in Birdie’s GDPR-compliant system, and consent can be withdrawn at any time.
What if I don’t want to use an app?
A paper care plan and regular phone updates are available as an alternative. The underlying care record stays in Birdie; the question is just how you’d like to receive updates.
How quickly will the office reply to a message?
Messages sent through the app are answered during office hours, 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. For urgent matters outside those hours, use our out-of-hours discharge fast-track form or call the published phone number.
Every family is different. Some want hourly visibility. Some want a weekly summary. Some need three siblings involved across three different time zones. We’ll set the app up the way that actually works for you.
- Call 01636 646915, 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday
- Email hello@helpingathome.co.uk
- Request a care assessment and we’ll be in touch when it suits you
For more about who would be visiting and how we keep care consistent, see our familiar carers page.
