Please note: The following feature is available as part of Birdie’s Starter, Core, Advanced, Plus, Care Management and Advanced Care Management packages (As well as Care Management & Rostering, Care Management, Rostering & Finance, Premium) Please get in touch if interested in more information on this feature!
When you manage a care professional's absences, this information will then flow into all other parts of the system, including the weekly rota and the visit schedule. This means booking an absence automatically removes the care professional from the rota, making sure no visits are missed!
You will book an absence if a care professional is on holiday, calls in sick, is on maternity leave or any other type of absence.
How to book an absence
Go to your Team tab, and look for the care professional by typing their name into the search bar or by scrolling down the page. Click on the care professional, then on the Availability tab in the left-hand bar.
Then click on Book absence in the top-right corner.
We aim to give you as much flexibility as possible when booking a care professional's absence:
You can define the start date and end date.
You can also select the time period at which the absence starts and ends.
You can then specify the type of absence you are recording (annual leave, sick leave or other), and add notes in the box.
When you book an absence, it will be shown overlaid on top of the care professional's availability. This is normal, and the system will know that the carer won't be available during their usual working hours due to an absence.
This again mitigates any risk of assigning a visit to a carer who is not available to work, because they are off sick or absent for any other reason.
Please note: the maximum length of an absence is limited to 1 year.
How to cancel an absence
If you need to cancel an absence that you have booked for a care professional, click on the leave in their Availability section. There, you will be able to either view the absence details or delete the absence.
Once again, the change will automatically reflect in your weekly rota, and you will be able to assign the carer to visits once more. When you navigate back to the Roster screen, you will be able to see the absences colour-coded.
Can I record past absences?
We understand that your team may not always have the time to record an absence before it takes place, especially when a Care Professional is absent at short notice.
You have the option to record absences that have already taken place. You can also cancel an absence recorded in the past by clicking on the absence and deleting it.