Turning ideas into reality

After the release of Discord more than 5 years ago, the online communication has taken a drastic turn as it has solved various design issues that most VOIP softwares share. When compared to TeamSpeak, Skype, Mumble, and Vent, Discord has a simplified user interface.

Before Discord, users had to separately share their server address, the servers port number, and password to connect with others. But now, Discord has totally made the whole process of joining a new server pretty easy. All users have to do is share the URL that can either be used one time or set to be permanent. About Discord

Initially designed for gamers, Discord is a free chat application that has witnessed rapid growth ever since its release in 2015. With more than 100 million monthly active users and 7 million active servers, Discord is more than just a chat application. This popular application also has a “Go Live” feature that lets its users stream their game play and other things to their audiences.The application lets users communicate privately in groups that cannot be discovered through search. Even though the founders of Discord market the app explicitly to gamers, the application has servers, right from stock market to meme sharing.

Want to to develop an instant messaging and digital distribution platform like Discord?

Nothing changes until it’s broken. And the care system is kaput. Broken. In pieces.

Too much doom and gloom? Sadly, it reflects the frustrations of those currently seeking a carer. Until now, service users have had to grab a pen, fill out forms, telephone and wait for a carer to arrive. It’s a mystery who is coming, you hope they’re what you need. Then you hand over your care budget at roughly £18-20 an hour.

Did you know the carer who arrives is often paid only £8.60? No wonder so many are leaving the industry. They are woefully under-valued.  

“I didn’t realise my agency was taking 50% of my care budget. I know they have costs to cover, but it honestly didn’t occur to me that my carer - who was fantastic and really understood our family’s needs - was only getting £8.75 an hour. I’m devastated he quit, but now I understand.” Clare, Gloucester.

Agh, we hear you. It’s a frustrating situation for everyone.

Well, we didn’t think this was an efficient or safe way to deliver care. Not for the 21st Century when so many more people are seeking ways to continue living life, independently at home.

So we designed Curam to make it super easy to connect self-employed carers with clients online.

It’s safe, efficient and best of all it allows clients to pay less for a carer who earns more.

That’s the reason we’re the UK’s largest source of verified searchable carers.

So how does it help you make your care budget stretch further?

A radical new model of care

You browse our site, shortlist and select a carer of your choice and pay them a negotiated rate. On average that’s £15 an hour. You can see that’s a  £3-5 saving already.

Curam’s carers earn on average £13.50 after our marketing fees, almost double the national rate.  You can see how that’s more motivating to an experienced carer - they feel valued for their work.  

We take our commission rate - which is the lowest in the sector at 12.5% - from the carer. Our fee not only covers the costs of marketing for clients for carers but also includes carer insurance, DBS checks and a secure online payments system. That way everyone feels safe and secure.

It’s a radical new approach and it’s our technology which lets us pass the benefits on to clients and carers.

The savings you make can be exactly that. Or, you can use the difference to purchase additional hours or services. Again, giving clients the choice to shape their care.

Needs Assessments Care Budget

If you have recently had a needs assessment your local council will decide what financial contributions you will receive towards your care and support.

Did you know some Local Authorities use Curam already? They spend the money in your personal budget directly with us, arranging for your care and support based on your agreed care plan. You still have a say in whether this care plan is appropriate and what you want.

The reason they choose us? Curam can deliver care quickly, safely and within budget constraints.

Direct Payments Care Budget

If you receive direct payments for your care provision, you are able to choose the care provider you wish. This gives you greater flexibility to arrange your care and decide how it’s provided.

Using your Care Budget directly with Curam

As you can see, the main benefit of Curam is your care budget will go further! It doesn’t stop there. With Curam you can:

-Search, interview, shortlist and choose a carer who is right for you

-Have consistent, familiar care with a carer you have chosen

-Enjoy the company of someone who speaks the same language as you (many Curam carers have a second language)

-Benefit from the expertise of a carer who understands your care needs

-Choose exactly when and how you want care delivered - live in, hourly, domestic, medical - it’s up to you.

Managing your Care Budget

As Curam manages all transactions through our secure online payment system, is it simple to provide evidence for how your personal care budget is being spent.

“What I like about Curam is I know my carer is taking home almost double what they used to earn. It’s nice to know it’s not costing me a penny more but they get a big boost.” Clare - Gloucester.

Curam works differently because we believe by great value care comes from valuing great carers.  

850,000 people in the UK currently live with dementia. By 2040 the Government predicts that will be 1.6 million - that’s the equivalent population of Birmingham struggling with cognitive abilities.

Early diagnosis helps but so does learning the skills required to assist those living with dementia. With the evidence indicating that 2 in 10 of our ageing population will at some point be diagnosed with dementia, perhaps it’s time we learnt better ways to support, care and communicate?

Python – being an open source language, is a good pick for developers whether a beginner or an experienced one. With a supremacy of 30 years, It is still one of the most relevant languages and constantly growing. Python, being a high level programming language, takes care of common programming task sets and allows it to focus on the core functionality and concept of a respective application. Developers with python as a core skill are in trend and high demand, because of its versatile nature that can become a solution in many complex areas.

Not to forget it’s the easiest language to learn, But learning a language and mastering is not always enough to be a good developer, Right?

So, let’s deep dive into the 5 most relevant skills that can help you become a good python developer.

Python core concepts: For anyone to become a master in any language, the most essential skill to acquire is the core concept on which that language is built. One should have a good hold on the core python concept which are :

Python Web frameworks : Python is not the best suitable and mostly used language for the web, But it is used in an environment where time and budget is limited, and one wants to develop a working model as soon as possible. Developers do not need to have in-depth knowledge of each available frameworks but overall concept knowledge is always helpful. A good developer should have a hold over either of the two frameworks Flask and Django or both. Django is a Full stack framework with rich libraries in User management, URL routing, Object relational mapper and API management as well as front end support. Whereas Flask is a micro framework, which focuses on providing the necessary functionality for a particular task. Based on the Project requirement needs, you need to choose the best relevant and efficient framework to use.

Python Libraries : Having experience with popular python libraries is one of the major skill sets a python developer should have. Python has thousands of libraries and modules which include python standard libraries and third party modules developed by developers for developers.you can get any available module from Python Package Index (Pypi). Libraries make things easier for a developer, a team’s workflow efficient and task execution rapid and hassle free. Depending on the key concept of the project, it’s better to have knowledge regarding relevant libraries, which will be helpful and create task execution easier for you. Here are some of the most relevant libraries for machine learning – Numpy, SciPy, Tensorflow, Pandas, Matplotlib.

Database Schema and Query tools : Most web frameworks provide libraries to connect to any database, but for a developer to have a complete knowledge of different databases is a must. Data is playing a key role in today’s Online world, So data management skills is the least a developer should have. Depending on the project needs, one needs to choose a database which is best suitable for the task execution. Database is a most important part for every application from web application to a Machine learning model, So one should have a sound knowledge of database architecture as well as the query tool i.e SQL language. You need to have a complete knowledge of sql queries.

Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science skills : Data science itself is a whole ocean of opportunities in today’s world. It’s not a buzzword Anymore. What the world has achieved in this field is a drop but the field is an ocean.but To deep dive into this world of data science you need to have a certain essential skills, From Basic mathematical skills from your high school to high level Neural Networks. Here is the list of most essential skills to deep dive into data science.

Variables and data types

Data Structure

OOP concept

File operations

Exception Handling

Debug Concepts

Good knowledge of SQL

Data Acquisition

Cleaning up of data

Analysis of data

Visualization of data

Knowledge of machine learning algorithms

So, these are the basic development skills a developer needs to have to start a career in python and be a python developer. Acquire these skills and you are good to go to start a career. But Development skills are never enough to be a good software developer. One needs to have a great amount of soft skills which is a backbone for your career.

Soft skills, such as communication skills, Ability for logical thinking, Problem solving skills, Requirement understanding skills, being a good team worker – These skills One can not master, but it gets better and better with your experiences in projects and live fields.

At Curam we are passionate about building a care community which is fair for all. One that respects the value of care.

Ever thought who is Curam? What working as a self-employed carer is really like? Then read on. There’s a reason so many carers have signed up in the past twelve months – we do things differently.

When it comes to your healthcare application, it needs to be tested prior to launch. While you can have it tested by your users, it is recommended that you have it tested first by quality assurance specialists (QA testers). The reason for this is because quality assurance specialists can ensure that your medical application works seamlessly while protecting and securing personal user data and complying with both HIPAA healthcare regulations and PIPEDA guidelines. It is important to note that the testing of a healthcare application differs from testing other types of software products because of the amount of privacy and security that is needed. With this said, we have a list of essential steps that you need to take when testing your healthcare application. Read on to find out more about how to implement these during mobile application development

Use Soft Spot Checks to Detect Vulnerabilities in Your Healthcare App

. Regardless of what type of medical application you are building, it is safe to say that there will be potential for vulnerabilities if your app deals with valuable medical data and sensitive private user information. It is critical that you spot check these “soft” areas for weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

1. Failing to Comply with HIPAA Requirements.You need to keep HIPAA compliance in mind during the mobile application development cycle, as it is what protects you from fines and penalties. It is also what protects you against data breaches, cyber-attacks, and trust in your application. Here is a list of what you need to ensure that your app follows main HIPAA requirements.

Make sure that all role-based access controls are included, that they work correctly, and that only prescribed data is available with each user role. To check this, run access data scenarios through role-based controls.

Offer a secure way to authenticate users. Whether you choose multi-factor authentication, biometrics, risk-based algorithms, or short-term passwords, make sure that it is working correctly.

Make sure data backups are automated and done routinely. While HIPAA does not require automated backups, it is an excellent failsafe that should be employed. This is because manual backups can take a ton of time and they can be forgotten. Set up backup conditions like frequency or for specific data uploads and ensure that these conditions are being met and backups are happening.

Encrypt your protected healthcare information. It is important to secure sensitive data and the best way to do this is with encryption. Have your QA team check to make sure that the data encryption and decryption process is working correctly.

2. Unfriendly UI & UX Design. How satisfied users are as they interact with your application is dependent on your mobile app’s ease of use, efficiency, and effectiveness. During the development of your mobile application, it is vital that you make it user-centric, ensuring that the user-interface and the user-experience is seamless, free of bugs, and easy to understand. One of the best ways to test UI and UX design is through “hallway usability testing” where your QA team checks how long it takes a user to complete a task within the app and how effective they are at completing that task. This will help you make note of what is inconvenient to use and what works well.

3. Medical System Incompatibility. You will want to hire a QA team to check that your healthcare app can freely communicate with common third-party medical software. During your healthcare application development process, integrate electronic health record software (EHR), hospital management software (HMS), and medical practice management software (MPMS). Consider that every software will use a different data format, database type, and functionality depending on the hospital it is used by.

4. Medical Device Incompatibility. There are tons of devices on the market, some medical and others not, that should be able to work with your healthcare app. For instance, there are fitness trackers, hearables, smart glasses, and smart watches, all of which attract audiences to your app. A quality assurance team should be used to test the interactions between your application and all wearable devices that you plan to launch on. Common problems include the application not seeing the device, the app not connecting to the device, or the device not being able to transfer data to and from the app. Always check compatibility.

5. Poor Performance. The performance of your application is important as it determines how satisfied your customers are with the overall experience. Users want to be able to use your application with complete freedom, meaning they do not want limitations on where they can use it (location), what type of device must be used (mobile or not), or what type of connection they must have (3G, 4G, LTE, 5G). Furthermore, they do not want to wait in the queue because there are X amount of people on the app at that very moment. All of these variables should be checked by a quality assurance team to ensure that your healthcare app is scalable without limitations to these variables.

5 Steps to Testing Your Healthcare Application

In order to track any weaknesses or vulnerabilities during the healthcare application development process, your quality assurance team needs to follow a defined testing procedure that optimizes, focuses and improves on these areas. Here are 5 steps to testing your healthcare application.

Create a Test Plan. With the product requirements and the scope of the project in hand, your quality assurance team should create a test plan based around the required features and specifications that are needed. This test plan will outline the strategy, schedule, time, cost, objectives, and deliverables as well as any resources required for testing. This test plan outline will give you a clear idea of what to expect from the testing process.

Test all Requirements. During the second step, the QA team will analyze existing requirements and test them for any potential risk or issues that may arise. All requirements or specifications need to be checked for their correctness, completeness, and consistency. Testing your requirements ensures that the application is aligned with your business objective.

Do Functional & Non-functional Testing. The third step involves checking for bugs and analyzing how efficient your application is at running and performing requests. During the non-functioning stage of testing, this will look at performance, security, reliability, and usability. For functional testing, the QA team will look at integration, performance, compatibility, security, installation, volume, API testing, and recovery.

Perform Regression Testing. After bug reports are handed off to the developers and these are fixed, the fixes may influence current functionality (break it), so regression testing goes back in and makes sure that your application is working after bug fixes are made.

Report. During testing, reports will be made about what is found and how well the testing goes. A final report will also be made with the overall test results, which will give you an overall look at how well your application is operating.

How to Choose a QA Team to Test Your Healthcare App?

When looking to hire a quality assurance team to test your healthcare application, you want to choose one that follows a certain number of criteria and workflow processes. Look for the following:

Find a team that uses a combination of manual and automation testing. This ensures that your user interface is checked manually and that your application is optimized through streamlined checks.

Use a QA team that can collaborate with you in real-time (same time zone as you) and can communicate in the same language as you. Set up communication times, either daily, weekly, or monthly to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Make sure the QA team you choose can apply compatibility, load, security, and risk-based testing. Compatibility testing is needed to make sure that it will work with integrated third-party software, risk-based testing is needed to determine potential risks to your application, and security testing is needed to mitigate security vulnerabilities. Finally, load testing is needed to determine if your healthcare application can scale & what obstacles it may encounter.

By taking these steps during the development of your healthcare application, you increase the uptake of it during live launch. This is because the key barrier to the use of health-based applications is trust. Showing comprehensive, clear, and bullet-proof checks prior to release, will make the launch of your app go that much smoother because it will be intuitive, secure, and streamlined.

850,000 people in the UK currently live with dementia. By 2040 the Government predicts that will be 1.6 million - that’s the equivalent population of Birmingham struggling with cognitive abilities.

Early diagnosis helps but so does learning the skills required to assist those living with dementia. With the evidence indicating that 2 in 10 of our ageing population will at some point be diagnosed with dementia, perhaps it’s time we learnt better ways to support, care and communicate?

Here’s our 10 point guide to caring for dementia clients.

What is Alzheimer’s and Dementia?

It can be hard to know the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s. In simple terms, when the brain in injured, either through stroke or disease, it’s called dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.

Dementia is a progressive condition which affects people in different ways.  Those with Alzheimer’s may struggle with memory and daily tasks, and others with more advanced dementia conditions will be unable to express themselves clearly or rationally.

Dementia Communication Skills

1.     Slow down

Take it slow. Be patient. The tortoise, and not the hare, will win the day if you want constructive conversation with anyone living with dementia conditions. Those with cognitive impairments need time to process their thoughts. People with dementia can easily pick up on negative feelings. By slowing down, you’ll create an environment where you both feel less stress and more relaxed.

2.     Empathy

Maintain a sense of empathy. Really try to understand the frustrations which can be symptomatic of dementia. In turn, adjust the way you speak to foster better relationships. By removing any distractions in the room, you’ll simplify the environment and make it easier for your companion to express themselves.

3.     Identify

Introduce yourself clearly, keep your tone of voice calm and happy. Be mindful of your physical presence. Standing over someone can feel intimidating so drop down to their level. If it’s appropriate, offer a gesture of comfort and reassurance - like holding a hand - while you speak.

4.     Listen

Active listening is a skill for any situation, not just when we are in the company of those with dementia. It is a process of listening attentively, letting your partner speak freely while you paraphrase and reflect back what is said, without any judgment or advice. Show you’re following what is being said by maintaining eye contact, smile and nod encouragingly.

5.     Simple Language

“Bonjour again! Sally here. Look, yesterday, when I spoke with you, do you remember, it was raining outside and the bin man had just been - my what a racket they make - well, I forgot to ask if you wanted any bits and bobs from the local corner shop?”

Bouncy, nice little conversation there isn’t it? Takes a while to get to the point though. For someone with dementia it’s full of idioms and phrases which will cause confusion.

“Hello, it’s Sally. Do you need to buy any food or snacks today?”

You can see the difference? A lot of ‘warmth’ in a conversation needs to come from body language not from complex words and lengthy questions. Stop frequently throughout the conversation to allow them time to think. This will help limit feelings of frustration and reduce any associated poor behaviours.

6.     Re-framing

Being a caregiver is hard. On some days, nothing will try your patience like caring for someone with dementia. One way to keep your calm is to ‘re-frame’ negative situations.

Remember that all behavior is communication - even it’s aggressive. Acknowledge your own feelings first and take a moment to let them pass. Then consider what message is behind the negative behavior. Are they tired? Have you been asking too many questions? Are there too many distractions?

Once you re frame your thinking to be more objective and critical, you can better assess a situation and take the emotion out of it. This is especially important, if you are caring for a loved one.

7.     Reassurance

You’re doing a great job. Accept that some days will be better than others. Be realistic and manage your own expectations so you’re not hard on yourself. Celebrate good days and don’t dwell on negativity. Guilt, anger or sadness are natural reactions on some days. Accept them, let them pass, then get on with life.

People living with dementia often exhibit poor behaviours when they are unhappy or frustrated. In these moments, reassure them, acknowledge their feelings, empathise and remind them they are in the company of someone who cares for them.

8.     Avoiding Arguments

Did she just say that?!

We have all experienced that moment, when a comment hits a nerve. We feel hurt, overwhelmed. Unfortunately, dementia causes the brain to function in a non-logical way. The consequence is a person may say something nonsensical or that they don’t mean. While you may feel hurt, there is little benefit in arguing.

Try and let negative comments pass without judgment or acknowledgment and remain calm. Remove yourself from the conversation and give yourself time to let the heat of emotion pass.

9.     Learn About Dementia

Knowledge is a powerful tool. It can help manage your expectations of those living with dementia. If we understand how the disease affects an individual, we can care in a more effective way. We can view behaviours objectively. We can change our communication style to encourage conversation. We can empathise when times are a struggle. Talk with doctors, research and learn about dementia and you will feel more empowered in the situation.

Alzheimer’s UK

NHS Dementia

Dementia UK

10.  Join a Support Group

You’ve had one of those days. You feel worn out, emotionally charged and exhausted all at once. You could ring an old friend, chat it out. You could go for a walk and get it out of your system. Both good options. But on some days, we all need the company of others who can truly empathise. Someone who can nod along, offer insights and laugh with us at the moments we can’t control.

Sharing experiences of dementia with a support group can improve your outlook on the condition, help reduce stress levels and ultimately, keep you feeling happy.

How Curam can help

Becoming a caregiver can be extremely rewarding, but it can also be frustrating at times. Curam carers can offer respite care, or specialist dementia care. You can choose if you want care support for a few hours, a few days or full-time.