How Bupa care home workers are keeping control of their finances
Bupa recently introduced the income-streaming app, Wagestream, which will allow nearly 11,000 colleagues to instantly access pay for completed shifts without needing to wait for payday. Authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and supported by charities including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Wagestream also allows users to track their wages – including any overtime earned. Rebecca Pearson, Operations Director for Bupa Care Services, explains: “Wellbeing is about more than physical health. It includes everything our people need to be at their best, including financial stability. “No matter who you are, there will always be times when you face unexpected costs – whether it’s a broken-down car or an unforeseen vets bill. “Whatever the reason, by introducing Wagestream, we’re allowing colleagues to access their earned wages ahead of payday, so that they’ve greater control over their finances when they need it most.” The app is especially effective for those who work flexible shifts or overtime, as it means that they can get instant access to their additional pay as soon as they’ve earned it. Peter Briffett, Chief Executive at Wagestream, adds: “Employers are increasingly realising how important it is to look after the financial wellness of their staff, and income streaming is one of the most effective ways they can do this. “We actually launched with Bupa late last year, so we could help in the run-up to Christmas. It meant that colleagues who’d worked overtime could access their pay for things like Christmas shopping – as well as spreading their pay over the five weeks between December and January pay dates. It’s already had a great response.” Bupa employs nearly 11,000 staff at its 125 care homes and eight care villages across the UK. Early figures suggest that 25% of staff have enrolled on Wagestream, with more than 1,300 people so far have streamed funds, averaging £73 per use. Improving staff retention through financial flexibility The introduction of the app is also aimed at helping improve staff retention and preventing staff from turning to agency work. Rebecca Pearson continues: “Our colleagues have told us that one of the attractions of agency work is that it pays weekly, meaning they can get quicker access to their pay. By introducing Wagestream, we’ve gone one step further, offering them instant access to their earned wages instead.” While the app allows much greater financial flexibility, Bupa has set a cap on the amount that can be accessed to help ensure that colleagues don’t see a significant shortfall in income the following month. Colleagues can also choose to set their own personal limits within this – whether that’s for the percentage of their total pay, total sum accessed or number of transactions. Free financial advice is also available both via the Wagestream app – which is provided in partnership with The Money Advice Service and The Money Charity – and Bupa’s Healthy Minds hotline. The helpline can be accessed free of charge 24/7 and provides support with anything relating to mental health and wellbeing, including financial planning. Other employers to have signed up with Wagestream include Rentokil Initial, Hackney Council and Roadchef. Users have already identified a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Human Resources (HR) advantages to Wagestream. In addition to recruitment and retention value for all employers, a key immediate benefit for those firms who offer shift work is that it becomes easier to fill rotas. This is because income streaming restores the direct connection between work and pay. In fact, Wagestream data shows that workers enrolled in the service choose to work 22% more hours on average. Wagestream allows staff to draw down — or ‘income stream’ — a percentage of their earned wages any day of the month for a flat £1.75 fee. There are no loans involved and therefore no interest is charged. Case study – Bupa care home worker Wendy McGhan A mum of four, 39-year-old Wendy was born and raised in Cardiff. She’s worked her whole career in social care and has been at Bupa’s Heol Don care home for the last five years, now as a unit manager. After starting as a care assistant, she progressed to the role of Senior Care Worker, promoted in time to Unit Manager – overseeing a residential dementia unit, which cares for up to 19 residents. Wendy’s children are 22, 19, 18 and two years old. The older three also work at the same care home. Wendy said: “There are always months when bills sneak up on you – whether it’s something for the baby, or the car breaking down. To know that I’ve got an app on my phone and that my own money is there if I need it – it’s a weight off my shoulders. “The best thing about it is that it acts as a safety net. As a mum of four, you know that occasionally unexpected bills might pop up. “I used Wagestream ahead of Christmas. It meant I could work extra shifts and then access the money immediately to help treat the kids. “The app updates every week, so you can see what you’ve earned – including overtime. That’s one of the most useful parts as I prefer to access my overtime pay, so I’ve still got a full month’s paycheque to come. “If it wasn’t for Wagestream, I might have to ask friends and family for a loan, or even look to a payday lender. This is much better though – it removes all the stress as it’s money that I’ve already earned, so I don’t need to pay anyone back.”
CQC: ‘3 rehab facilities in same London road are Inadequate’
Local people in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea will be dismayed to learn that three locations, all run by the same provider in Kendrick Mews, have been rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). All the drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, run by PROMIS Clinics, have been placed into special measures following inspections in May 2019. No 11 Kendrick Mews is a three-bedded unit based in a mews house. It is run by PROMIS clinics, which has two other services on the same street at No 12 and No 4. While the three are registered separately, they operate as one service with the same manager and the same staff covering the three locations. CQC completed the inspection which reviewed the three registered locations. Fire protection was not adequate Clients in the three services use the same communal areas in No 11, including a kitchen and a living room. The clinic room for the three services is in No 11. There are some therapy rooms in No 12, which are used by clients across the services. The premises were not being properly protected from the risk of fire. The service provides medically monitored alcohol and drug rehabilitation services including a psychological therapy programme. CQC inspectors were concerned that the provider had not full taken account of a CQC briefing (supported by Public Health England) on the quality and safety of detoxification in residential substance misuse services. This was circulated to providers of all relevant services in 2017. The service did not provide safe care for clients undergoing alcohol detoxification. The provider accepted clients for alcohol detoxification who had a history of alcohol withdrawal seizures and delirium tremens. This carried a level of medical risk that was not fully assessed prior to admission. Clients did not have a comprehensive assessment before commencing alcohol detoxification treatment. There was no record that clients had a physical examination, including for clients with a reported physical health problem. This included clients with possible or actual liver disease. Clients’ medical and mental health history was not always obtained from other healthcare professionals prior to detoxification treatment. Lack of training for alcohol detoxification treatment One of the GPs prescribing for clients undergoing alcohol detoxification treatment had not had any specific training in treatment for substance misuse. However, at CQC’s last inspection, inspectors identified that physical health monitoring equipment had not been regularly serviced and staff were not aware of their duty of candour. At this inspection, these matters had been resolved. People were cared for in a clean and comfortable environment and there were enough staff to meet the needs of the client group. Clients were supported and treated with dignity and respect and were involved as partners in their care. Clients were supported to understand and manage their care and treatment. The service offered family interventions and post discharge support groups. At number 4 Kendrick Mews there were no clients in residence, but inspectors rated both safe and well-led categories as Inadequate. CQC could not gather sufficient evidence to answer the remaining key category questions. Dr Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector at the CQC (and lead for mental health) said: “We have placed all three PROMIS Clinics in Kendrick Mews into special measures. “I am placing the three services into special measures due to their failure to follow best practice for the safe detoxification of clients withdrawing from alcohol, their failure to protect their premises from the risk of fire and the lack of management oversight of safety and quality. “The service will be kept under review and, if needed, we will take further enforcement action. We will conduct another inspection within six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.” Read the reports in full when they are published on CQC’s website at: No 11: cqc.org.uk/location/1-506886543 No 12: cqc.org.uk/location/1-507813693 No 4: cqc.org.uk/location/1-2673104638
Care worker develops her own dementia-friendly app
Care worker Heather Mead found there was a lack of apps available to engage people with dementia – so set up her own business and created a dementia-friendly game. Here, she tells Care & Nursing Essentials editor Victoria Galligan about her story and explains how animated racing fish are helping to engage the residents she works with. Heather works in a Bupa care home in Kent, having worked in care for seven years, and said: “The idea came to me on my first day working for the care home. It was having a demonstration of a sensory table mainly designed for children with special needs. The activity ladies and some carers were talking about gaming apps and how there are not that many designed specifically for the elderly or those with dementia that are easy to play. “I started thinking about how to go about developing gaming apps that are specifically for the elderly and those with dementia. As I’m studying a BA Hons in Health and Social Care with the Open University, I reached out to them for advice as to how to go about developing a gaming app – I had no coding abilities so they advised me to contact an app developer.” With the help of Easy Apps Business, and a lengthy conversation about her idea for a set of six games in total, Heather set up as a sole trader under her brand Retro Games. She invested her own money into building, maintaining and marketing the first dementia-friendly app – Retro Fish Game. Dementia-friendly app gets competitive! Heather said: “The app is a colourful fish game. The fish swims across the screen and you have to tap the fish before it gets to the other side. There is a score box and a timer to see how many fish you get in how fast a time you get them in. There are three levels and after the fifth fish the game gets quicker, it has relaxing sea sounds as background music to help a person with dementia to focus on the fish rather than getting agitated from loud background music. “Two Bupa care homes have trialled the game and the results have been good. With residents that have mild dementia, they find the game easy to play and they become quite competitive! They try to get more fish and keep going until they have played all levels. “Some residents find the easy level hard, while others can reach the hard level but often miss the fish. “The game is good in helping with residents’ interaction and conversation with each other, with the activities ladies or with relatives.” As well as boosting engagement and communication, the idea of Retro Fish Game is to: • Challenge the person playing it by exercising the mind • Test reaction times • Stimulate auditory and visual processing by helping the person to recognise patterns • Help improve and maintain cognitive skills (such as attention, perception, memory, logic and reasoning. Heather said her studies had fuelled her drive to improve the lives of people with dementia, adding: “I will be in my third year in October and I have found the course so far very enlightening. It has furthered my knowledge and broadened my perspective of health and social care – especially about ageing and how it should be seen as a lifetime experience, not just for the elderly. “Recreational activities improve the quality of life for an elderly person and those suffering from dementia in a care home or hospital setting. “As the world’s population is living longer, there is a significant gap in the research and development of recreational activities technology for the elderly or those with dementia and how it can help them to engage and be stimulated. Retro Games’ aim is to bridge that gap.” The dementia-friendly app can be found on Google Play (play.google.com) under the category ‘cognitive skills’ as Retro Fish Game, and is coming to Apple soon. The Facebook page and website retro-games-uk.com will tell you more about the game.
Three Key Tenets of Outstanding Infection Control
Ben Kilbey, Business Development Manager at Spearhead Healthcare, on achieving outstanding infection control procedures in your care home… Every care manager knows that a systematic, structured approach to cleaning is the only way to keep infections at bay and to protect residents and carers effectively – as well as your own reputation. Based on our extensive experience of helping hundreds of care homes like yours implement a best-practice infection control programme, here are our three guiding principles to set you on the right course. 1. Don’t cut corners with products It’s simply not possible to cut corners in infection control especially when it comes to the products you choose. Relying on domestic cleaning products, like furniture polish and bleach, is poor practice in care homes. It’s imperative to use BS EN1276-certified specialist products, like the ones included in our Platinum Plan, which are designed for the care environment and kill bacteria such as MRSA, Salmonella, E.Coli and the flu virus. Daily use of bactericidal and sporicidal cleaning products should be combined with a monthly deep clean, and a different set of chemical-based products are required to get an infection outbreak under control. That said, there are sensible ways of saving money without compromising on quality. For instance, providers can keep ‘cost-in-use’ to a minimum by purchasing products as concentrates, and training staff to use specialist diluting equipment correctly. As one of our customers Sophie Parker, Head Housekeeper at Dalawoodie House Nursing Home in Dumfries, reminds us: “Product overuse is as bad as underuse!” You can also take steps to consolidate chemical products, which is a key COSHH stipulation. For instance, our Multi-Surface Spray Polish is ideally suited for use on mirrors, furniture and metal surfaces such as stainless steel. 2. Get your infection control processes in shape Every process involved in cleaning the care home should be underpinned by a clearly thought-out and consistent strategy. This is where we often step in, helping homes to create and implement best-practice routines and procedures for staff, residents and visitors alike. This includes detailed guidelines for product usage and storage, usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), cost sheets, template cleaning schedules, logs and risk assessments. Delivering expert COSHH training for staff is also a core part of this. We’re strong advocates of colour-coding products, equipment and even paperwork to ensure that staff have clear visual reminders of which item to use where and which guidelines to follow. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to include every area of the care environment in your cleaning strategy, from handwashing and laundry to fabrics (even curtains) and moving and handling equipment. 3. Take the lead on compliance Regulatory compliance in the care sector is not to be taken lightly. Thorough documentation demonstrates your commitment to maintaining the highest possible cleaning standards, strict accountability, transparency and willingness to communicate openly with all stakeholders. Indeed it will ensure peace of mind during any inspection. Rigorous documentation isn’t just for when an outbreak strikes or when you are under particular scrutiny. It may sound gloomy but it is really true that those providers who prepare for disaster will recover faster! In the event of an outbreak, you’ll need to show regulators, families and local authorities that you followed the correct procedures and did all within your means to contain it. Also, compliant record-keeping reassures everyone that you are doing everything possible to prevent it from reoccurring. Our documentation package for Platinum Plan customers provides useful templates, logs and records that all help reduce the compliance burden for busy care managers. See spearheadhealthcare.com for more advice on infection control
How social care providers can retain staff for longer
Although recruitment within the social care industry is important in order to attract the right people into your organisation, retaining good current members of staff is equally important in order to run an effective care home business. Statistics by Skills for Care estimate that every year 390,000 people leave their job in social care, which equates to 1,000 per day, leaving approximately 110,000 vacancies at any one time. Recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce, who have compatible values, can help care home organisations deliver a high quality and consistent level of care and support. Cohesion, a specialist social care recruitment company, recently surveyed care organisations on recruitment and retention. The research revealed that over half (55%) of respondents found retaining staff to be a bigger challenge than recruiting. Here Will Shepherd, CEO at Cohesion, shares his advice on how to promote better staff retention: 1. Provide role clarity – Candidates want to know the detail and if you fail to tell them up front, things can go wrong down the line. Include daily duties of the role, information about the service and team and the benefits of how to apply. It is important to highlight how the employee can make a positive difference in the advert and throughout the recruitment process – because research tells us this is the most important reason candidates will choose to apply. 2. Induction and training – When a new recruit starts working for a care home, the onboarding process is a crucial step in making them want to stay with an organisation long-term. Delivering a good induction scheme with associated training, has proven to be better than spreading training out over the first few months. Our research found that 72% of candidates surveyed at 12 weeks into their new role said that ‘opportunities to develop in and beyond their current role’ was important to them. Our research also found that 96% of all new starters who had been made to feel welcome by their manager described themselves as either ‘happy’ or ‘very happy’ in their role. It’s important to focus on other areas apart from CQC compliance training. Make it exciting by selling your business, the team and the organisation’s culture. When a new member of staff starts, shadowing and supernumerary shifts alongside existing members of staff, can have a huge impact on their confidence and enjoyment of the role. 3. Use social media – Social media is often used to attract people into a role during recruitment, but it is now having a huge impact as an engagement tool for the retention process. However, our survey revealed that 65% of social care organisations did not use social media as part of their employee retention strategy. Utilise personnel success stories across your social media channels, encouraging people to join the organisation’s community. Social media can also be used to encourage new starter recommendations – motivate, and if possible, reward staff for making candidate introductions and referrals. Consistency is key and maintaining a social media presence can ultimately make a huge impact. 4. Work-life balance in social care – Our survey revealed that 40% of people who said they were ‘very unhappy’ combined with the 32% who were ‘unhappy’, did not feel that the hours and shifts were suitable for their work-life balance or travel arrangements. The more flexible the working environment, the wider the audience of potential applicants. We are aware that this can sometimes be hard to apply within a care home, but any flexibility that you can offer in terms of shift patterns and rotas is appreciated by staff. The rewards make it worth it! 5. Listening and acting on employee feedback – By the time a member of staff is taking part in an exit interview, it is really too late to identify and solve any problems they may have faced during their period of employment. A ‘stay interview’, which takes place while an employee is still employed, provides a great opportunity to build a trusting relationship and is a chance to assess the degree of employee satisfaction and engagement. While you may not need to hold stay interviews with all employees, it’s especially important to hold them with key members of staff who might be considering a career change. Be sure to listen to your employee, take notes and action their suggestions, if they don’t feel like anything is going to change, you won’t get honest feedback. Cohesion employs some 50 recruitment experts from its headquarters in Solihull. For more information visit cohesionrecruitment.com or call 0121 713 6956. Sources: skillsforcare.org.uk/Recruitment-retention Cohesion data (2019)
Four Seasons collapse: What will happen to 17,000 care home residents?
The care home operator Four Seasons has gone into administration, leaving 17,000 residents and 20,000 staff under a cloud of uncertainty. The appointment of administrators by two of Four Seasons’ holding companies marks the biggest care home business collapse since 2011, when Southern Cross suffered the same fate. Cracks first showed at Four Seasons in 2015, when the company sold off property in a bid to avoid further financial difficulty. In 2016, credit rating agency Moody’s predicted the company would suffer from the National Living Wage introduction coupled with fall in funding from local authorities. Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said: “Today’s announcement will be worrying for the 17,000 Four Seasons residents and their families, though it is important to recognise there is no immediate threat to the operation of Four Seasons’ care homes. “The problems facing Four Seasons show the extreme pressure that the social care system in England is under. Despite recent moves to shore up social care providers, years of chronic underfunding have left services at crisis point. As the Competition and Markets Authority has identified, many care homes that rely on publicly-funded residents are now financially unsustainable. “It is not just care homes but the whole social care system which desperately needs reform. Successive administrations have promised to overhaul the system, yet two years after the government committed to publishing a social care green paper, it is yet to see the light of day.” What will happen to the residents? No plans have been made to move residents. The group’s medical director Dr Claire Royston commented: “Today’s news does not change the way we operate or how our homes are run or prompt any change for residents, families, employees and indeed suppliers. “It marks the latest stage in the group’s restructuring process and allows us to move ahead with an orderly, independent sales process.”
Hull care home closes as operator has CQC registration removed
A care home operator has had his Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration cancelled following a rating of “inadequate” in a recent inspection. The CQC took the action to cancel the registration of Mr Thurairatnam Nadarajah Prakash and he is now no longer legally allowed to provide care at his service Durham Care Homes in Hull, which has since ceased operation. The CQQ said in a statement: “The latest inspection, in February 2019, rated the service inadequate overall and it was placed into special measures. The inspection revealed a significant deterioration in the care being provided and inspectors began the process to take enforcement action. “Previously the service had been rated Requires Improvement in October 2017 and November 2018.” The latest inspection, a report on which can be found here, found that safeguarding policies and procedures were not being followed, and some residents’ nutritional and hydration needs had not been fully assessed and met. Staff skills, care of residents, staff interaction and the protection of privacy and dignity were also found to be sub-standard. The CQC added: “We received information from the local authority regarding an escalation of concerns about the service; they had been completing monitoring visits. We completed this inspection based on these concerns. At the time of the inspection, we were aware of incidents being investigated by another agency.” Durham Care Homes has since closed and the CQC added: “Shortly after the recent inspection the provider announced their intention to close the home. The decision to cancel the provider’s registration was completed on 25 April 2019, the provider did not appeal the decision. “Inspectors worked closely with Hull City Council who supported the safe relocation of the home’s 14 residents prior to CQC’s action and its closure.” A report on the latest CQC inspection at Hull Care Homes can be found here
Pupils praised by care home after work experience week
ELDERLY residents have expressed their gratitude to two school pupils after a week working at their care home for work experience. 15-year-olds Hannah Pears and Molly Ratcliff supported staff and spent time with residents living at Pelton Grange Care Home, in Pelton, County Durham. The pupils from North Durham Academy, in Stanley, provided support with the tea trolley and dining, general housekeeping and social activities. Hannah said: “I had a great week. I had a lot of fun listening to the stories of the residents.” Molly added: “I never thought about what it was like in a care home. It was nice to see the residents had so much choice.” Resident Yo Barras, 96, said: “It was lovely to have such lively young girls in the building. They’ve been such a help and I’d like to say thank you on behalf of everyone here.” After completing their work experience, home manager Chris Hogan-Hind presented the girls with certificates as a box of chocolates each to say thank you. He said: “Hannah and Molly have been absolute stars during their work experience week. Such a help to the staff and the residents have all loved chatting to them. “Working with North Durham Academy, we were delighted to give the pupils a chance to experience working in a care home. “We’re always looking to partner with local schools, colleges and other organisations, to support each other where possible.” Pelton Grange Care Home is part of the Hill Care Group. For further information visit www.hillcare.net.
Smart Home Social Care
As the population ages, the demand for high quality carers rises. By 2026 it’s predicted that the UK will need around 420,000 more carers, but with the current vacancy rate high and the amount of those showing interest in the care sector diminishing, it’s important that technology is utilised in order to help fill the gaps and provide the best social care possible. Some countries are already embracing technologies in their infancy such as smart home devices and robotics in order to enhance their care levels. Japan, for example, has made care bots prominent in its Shin-tomi nursing home and has committed to funding the development of more devices. The UK has been slower to adopt technology into its healthcare system but changes are starting to be made. For example, in 2017 Southend-on-Sea was the first council to employ a humanoid robot to assist older people with certain tasks. Is this just the start? Could the future see each elderly or vulnerable individual accompanied by humanoids? It’s clear we’re not there yet, but in the meantime what else could be done? Helen Dempster, Chief Visionary Officer, Karantis360, discusses how human and bot could soon work together to improve domiciliary care. More than a Bandaid Rather than being seen as a bandaid for stretched resources, digital solutions should lead the way to a better type of care. This year the Social Care Digital Innovation Movement has allocated ten authorities to receive up to £30,000 to design a digital solution to address a specific issue within their service, and eight will be receiving up to a further £90,000 to support implementation. This level of commitment to digital progress shows just how seriously the industry is taking the potential impact of digital solutions. The use of smart home technology is rising and with this comes wider levels of acceptance. The changing attitudes towards devices such as the Amazon Alexa are enabling these technologies to be used in all different sorts of ways. One council even recently started to use Alexa as a way of reducing the levels of isolation felt by its elderly constituents. As people start to live more regularly with these devices and consider technology more friend than foe, they are becoming more accepting of adopting other devices. This is not to say that cared for and carers alike want to be subjected to constant CCTV or biometric scanners, but unobtrusive technologies are more welcomed. IoT sensors can unassumingly monitor movement, humidity, and temperature across a home enabling a care organisation to rapidly gain a picture of each individual’s day to day routine – information that is then key to flagging changes which could reveal a problem. These AI based tools arm carers with better information and enable them to intervene at the right time and create a care programme that best suits the needs of the individual. This information also provides a platform for the end to end digitisation of healthcare, co-ordinating the ecosystem of local authorities, healthcare providers, NHS Trusts, GPs, registered nurses and care homes, inspiring a more proactive and interlinked approach to care. To Bot or Not to Bot? So what about robotics? Although it may feel a world away, humanoid robots are making real inroads within social care in other countries. When it comes to the UK however there’s been hesitancy. In part, this is due to budget restrictions, with the initial costs appearing eye-watering. On the other side of the problem is the perception of droids. The numerous sci-fi depictions of robots gone rogue, the uncertainty as to whether human jobs would be at risk, and the worry that the elderly would be afraid of the devices, all stack against introducing humanoids into the care system. In Tokyo’s Shin-tomi nursing home, 20 different models of robots are used to help care for residents, but how could they best be used unsupervised and in an individual’s home? These devices aren’t meant to be intrusive, they are meant to be inclusive. They can give prompts to the individual, help them complete tasks with step by step instructions, play games with them and even connect them via video calls with their families. This video connection could also be used as a real-time feed should a warning alert be triggered. In this case, care providers monitoring for any issues could then use the two-way communication feed through the droid to ask the individual to confirm if everything is as it should be. If a response doesn’t come through, the provider would then be allowed to remotely check the camera feed in order to assess the initial situation and enable them to respond faster to any issues. Presently droids can’t be seen as 24/7 care monitoring systems, they need time to charge and there are also still issues with them navigating some of the daily aspects in life, such as stairs. It’s also reasonable that individuals may want time alone, for example, when going to sleep. This is why a combined approach of droids and sensors would be the most beneficial strategy for all parties. When combined with IoT sensors they can also give a constant and fuller picture of the physical health of the client. Together these technologies can better monitor the physical movements of a person to help diagnose conditions earlier, from smaller problems such as urinary tract infections to identifying early signs of dementia. Alerts via these devices can then help carers and family members to ask the right questions and get to the heart of any problem faster. The Smaller Details Bots still have a way to go before they become widely adopted as a domiciliary care tool, but the technological solutions needed to start improving levels of care today may prove to be simpler than some think. Ultimately what any solution should aim to do is allow carers to focus on their clients and improve the wellbeing of the individual. There are solutions available that can have an immediate effect. By leveraging IoT sensors to provide a real-time view
