Start with the function people rely on
Choose one function whose interruption would matter to the people drawing on care: coordinating homecare visits, passing an agreed shift handover or reaching authorised information needed by staff. Describe the function before naming the application. This helps the care manager, office team and technical provider discuss the same practical outcome.
State who needs the service, where and at which times. Include nights, weekends, remote working and staff changes where relevant. Keep individual care needs and clinical decisions within the established professional arrangements. This is Care Circle Network’s suggested planning record, not a clinical protocol, system audit or certification of compliance.
Bring the care and technical accounts together
Ask the operational owner to explain how the function works through an ordinary shift. Ask technical support which applications, connections, accounts and external organisations make that possible. Identify the person who coordinates a question across those responsibilities. A care group may have central contracts alongside local purchases; a homecare service may depend on staff reaching support while away from the office.
Record the responsible roles and deputies. Confirm who can approve a service restriction, obtain specialist advice and authorise the return to ordinary use. A technology provider can investigate the systems without owning care or clinical decisions. The record should make that boundary understandable, with a route to the competent person who can resolve it.
Follow access and information without copying the records
Trace the authorised route to the information or action required. Include relevant identity, device, connectivity, software, integration, power and support dependencies. Ask competent technical colleagues to confirm what is shared with other services. Keep an uncertainty visible where the organisation cannot yet establish the complete picture.
Record the type and purpose of information, not a person’s details. Do not include credentials, recovery codes, personal care records, access instructions for an individual home or sensitive configurations. Reference protected records through approved arrangements. The working card should support a leadership decision without becoming a new collection of information that could expose people or systems.
Explain the approved alternative and its limits
Ask care staff to identify the existing contingency for losing normal access. Establish who authorises it, how staff receive the instruction and how information remains protected and sufficiently current. An alternative that depends on the unavailable login or the absent manager needs further work. Do not create a new care procedure simply to fill the card.
Then examine the evidence. Which handover has been rehearsed? What has a technical restoration test demonstrated? Who would check whether the recovered information and function are usable for this service? Keep clinical or care acceptance with competent staff. A completed backup or supplier update answers only part of that discussion.
Carry one clear decision forward
Record the most consequential unresolved question, the evidence needed and the role authorised to decide. Agree an action owner, review date and way to verify completion. Where the answer depends on funding or another organisation, show that dependency rather than assigning responsibility to someone unable to resolve it.
Keep the card in an approved location and revisit it when staffing, access, suppliers or the service changes. Extend the method to further functions at a manageable pace. The useful finish is a shared account that the next shift or deputy can understand, with a practical route for improving continuity and checking that the improvement works.
Prepare the working record
Use the editable CSV or the PDF pack with your colleagues. Record decisions and evidence references, keeping credentials, sensitive configurations and personal records in the provider’s protected systems.
- Care function and purpose
- What function is being mapped, and what does it enable people and staff to do? Use no identifiable care information.
- Service setting and hours
- Which homes, teams, branches or operating periods are covered, including nights or remote work where relevant?
- Operational owner and deputy
- Which roles own the care function and provide cover? Reference approved work contacts rather than circulating personal contact lists.
- Technical and provider responsibilities
- Which internal teams, software suppliers, IT providers and other organisations support it? Who coordinates across them?
- Dependencies
- Which identity, device, connectivity, software, integration, power and support dependencies have competent colleagues confirmed?
- Access and information responsibility
- Who approves access and confirms the information purpose? Reference protected records; include no credentials or personal care records.
- Interruption consequence
- What would be affected, and which competent care or clinical role determines the appropriate response?
- Approved contingency
- Which existing alternative applies, who authorises it and where can authorised staff find protected instructions?
- Evidence and scope
- What assurance, rehearsal or restoration evidence was examined, by whom and when? What did it not cover?
- Return-to-service acceptance
- Who checks technical readiness and who accepts the care function, including relevant information checks and reconciliation?
- Next decision and owner
- What remains unresolved, what evidence or resource is needed and which role owns the next action?
- Verification and review
- How will improvement be checked, by when, and which service or provider change will prompt another review?
The blank records are completed locally. They are not automatically submitted to Care Circle Network and do not constitute a compliance certificate.
Published guidance and connected reading
- Digital Care Hub: business continuity planning ↗
Adult social care planning and communications resources, checked 4 November 2026. This service card is an original Care Circle Network method.
- Digital Care Hub: recovery ↗
Care-focused recovery and learning guidance, checked 4 November 2026. Local care and technical acceptance still need appropriate verification.
- NCSC: incident response overview ↗
Standing UK organisational guidance, checked 4 November 2026. Its people, process and technical principles do not prescribe an individual care decision.
- Access across care shifts ↗
Our connected feature considers access, responsibility and the people who need the service through changing shifts.