New app to help Western Cape social workers

A new app is designed to cut down time spent on paperwork, here Annemie Van Reenen stands in the registry room at the DSDs office in Langa. The registry has hundreds of case files. Photo: Marecia Damons

• The Western Cape Department of Social Development has launched an application to help social workers cut down time spent on admin
• The application allows social workers to upload clients’ documents to a database and fill in forms digitally.
• Currently social workers manage about 300 cases each, and have to fill out multiple forms and notes for each client.
• About 602 social workers and 189 social auxiliary workers will regularly use the application.

Social workers in the Western Cape manage up to 300 cases each. Filling out multiple forms for each case means more than half their time is spent on admin and not on counselling clients. A new app launched on Thursday by the Western Cape Department of Social Development aims to change this.

The new Social Work Integrated Management System (SWIMS) Application is designed to make administration of cases easier and faster.

Elarna Siljeur, who has been in the field for 17 years, works in the Atlantic Seaboard, Gugulethu, Heideveld, Manenberg, Mitchells Plain and Mowbray. A social worker sometimes has to manage up to 300 clients, she says, fill in multiple forms and complete process notes, clients’ bank forms, and consent forms.

In cases where abused children need to be placed into a different home, the adult under whose supervision the child will be placed, also needs to be screened. A child protection register clearance must be completed for every person living in the home.

“If there are 15 people, that means you’re doing 15 clearance applications. I must then take these applications and make copies of each person’s ID at our office because that needs to be attached when we apply for clearance,” said Siljeur.

She said that social workers often complained about the administration load.

“The SWIMS app will make the process easier,” said Siljeur. The app allows them to scan documents like IDs, birth certificates, consent forms and banking forms.

“All we need to do is pick up a phone, log into the case and get background. At the touch of a button, we have access to information and we don’t have to wait for the registry staff to go and find a file,” said Siljeur.

She said with the app, the administration time spent with each client is cut from about 35 to 40 minutes to five to 10 minutes during an hour-long visit. “So you have 45 to 50 minutes to sit with the client and do therapeutic work which is what we want. We can do so much more early intervention and prevention work if we can save more time. This app is a win for us,” she said.

Annemie Van Reenen, chief director for service delivery management and coordination, said a team had travelled to 45 offices across the province to assess challenges facing social workers. “The main thing they flagged is the high administrative burden. When I came back, I told my team we need to start working on a solution.”

In 2021, van Reenen submitted a pitch to the provincial treasury and received funding for three years from 2022. R1-million was allocated to developing the application and R2-million to procure smartphones for social workers.

The app will be rolled out in phases, starting with cases related to child protection –the biggest portion of social workers’ work.

Van Reenen said 602 social workers and 189 social auxiliary workers will regularly use the app. Managers and supervisors will also have access to the platform for oversight. Social workers from welfare organisations will be brought on board from April.

The SWIMS app will be available without an internet connection. “When social workers are in the field, doing home visits, they can upload the relevant documents onto their smartphones. When they get internet access, the information uploaded will be synced to the app’s databases,” said Van Reenen.

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