The Power of Better Sleep: Azalea Court’s Story

Azalea Court has always cared for people with some of the most complex needs in the region, tracheotomies, neurological conditions, residents who require one-to-one support, and others whose behaviour can change without warning. 

Nights were the hardest part of the day. Staff would walk the corridors, opening doors just to check, waking residents who needed sleep more than anything. Lights stayed on. TVs hummed in the background. A calm night was rare.

When Ally was introduced, the team hoped for better visibility. What they didn’t expect was how quickly the atmosphere of the home would transform.

A silence that meant safety, not risk

The first thing the staff noticed was the quiet.

“If you come here late at night it’s silent, but a calm silence. The corridors are dark, the doors are closed, people are sleeping. Before, the lights were on all night and TVs were left running. Now they go off. Residents are more rested, staff talk quietly, and even our electricity use has dropped.”  Julie Burton, Head of Operations— Julie Burton, Head of Operations

Instead of walking room to room, staff paused at the handheld devices in their palms. If an alert came in, they would stop and listen. A snore? A rustle? A resident shifting comfortably in bed?

“When the alert comes through, you listen if the resident is snoring… you know the person is deep asleep. All we need to do is dismiss that. That saves a lot of time for staff.” — Marnie, Deputy Manager

And with fewer door openings came a dramatic drop in night-time incidents.

“Since we had Ally Cares, we haven’t had a lot of falls at all at night. Our falls usually are during the day when residents are wandering. I haven’t actually had any incident report for months and months since it last happened.” — Marnie

For the first time in years, nights became genuinely peaceful.

 

Understanding the “why” behind behaviour

One resident in particular had been keeping the team awake for months. Almost every night, he would shout loudly enough to disturb everyone nearby. Staff tried reassurance, hydration and redirection, but nothing stuck.

Then the team analysed two weeks of Ally sound patterns.

“We had a resident who was verbally shouting at night and disturbing others. We used two weeks of recordings to see what was triggering it — was it hunger, incontinence, or something else? It turned out to be hunger and we could evidence that.”— Julie Burton

he discovery prompted a full review of evening nutrition. Working with the dietitian, mealtimes were restructured:

“Since we brought our dietitian in, she’s changed the mealtime structure so that residents have their main meal in the evening with a lighter supper later on. That’s provided a more sustained nutritional input overnight, and you can actually see that people are more settled and sleeping better.” — Julie Burton

A behaviour once believed to be “challenging” turned out to be a sign of unmet nutritional need, and it was resolved through insight, not intervention.

Stronger mornings and better medication stability

Improved sleep didn’t just influence behaviour; it improved clinical pathways, says an insightful whitepaper the Sleep Gap Report.

Julie shares a powerful example involving a resident receiving Parkinson’s medication:

“We had a resident where, over a four-month period, there were ten refusals and eighteen late Parkinson’s medications. In the next four months that went down to eight refusals after careful monitoring. That change came once we understood their sleep pattern and it was then more consistent and mornings were calmer.” — Julie Burton

Better nights achieved with sleep-positive care led to more stable mornings — with fewer refusals, fewer delays and a calmer start to the day.

Spotting early signs of illness when it matters most

Azalea Court’s staff use resident monitoring systems and acoustic patterns to detect signs of deterioration hours before they might otherwise be noticed. Marnie explains:

“If a person is coughing a lot, they’ll go in and check what’s going on, whether the resident needs water or medical review. It’s promoting exactly what needs to be done for that night.” — Marnie

Instead of finding issues after they escalate, staff now catch concerns at the first sign: hydration, observations, GP Connect checks, or clinical escalation as needed.

Evidence commissioners trust  and fewer one-to-ones

Azalea Court has historically supported many residents funded for one-to-one care, especially at night. With Ally, the team could finally show clear evidence of each resident’s actual patterns of activity, rest and escalation.

Julie explains how this changed commissioning conversations:

“We can show commissioners exactly when the residents receiving one-to-ones support are active, when residents are asleep, and how behaviour changes throughout that period. Commissioners trust us because we share the information openly.”
— Julie Burton

The result: funded one-to-ones reduced from 18 to 10, with no increase in risk,  just better targeted support.

Supporting rehabilitation and helping residents go home

Several residents are admitted to Azalea Court at a point of significant deterioration. Being able to evidence improvement makes all the difference.

Julie describes how Ally supports this:

“We’ve been quite successful with people being admitted to Azalea Court in a poor clinical presentation and then being able to go home again. If you can show that when a person arrives and they have a high need but as the care is delivered and the person responds the number of interactions decrease, you can then support the person to return home and you have the evidence of the change.” — Julie Burton

This evidence has allowed staff to advocate for residents, demonstrating real progress instead of relying on subjective judgement alone.

Better oversight for managers and a more consistent approach

The daily review tools have become essential for operational consistency. Marnie explains how she uses them:

“If I see a hundred dismissals on the report, I can click through, see which staff, which rooms and the notes they wrote, like ‘resident snoring’ or ‘TV on’. That saves time and helps me see patterns.” — Marnie

Ally’s integration with systems like Nourish, GP Connect and Whzan makes overnight-to-day continuity seamless:

“If we see something overnight, we can immediately check observations, GP Connect or pharmacy updates. It’s all connected and makes tracking care much easier.” — Marnie

Rethinking end-of-life care

Julie also believes there is untapped value for end-of-life monitoring:

“We’re very focused on end-of-life care. Nobody should die alone. If breathing patterns change, it could give us the chance to be there for that person.” — Julie Burton

This represents a future direction for the team: using sound patterns to make sure no resident is left without company or comfort in their final moments.

From normal care to excellent care

Julie sums up the cultural shift better than anyone:

“Acoustic monitoring in residents’ rooms, used in the right context, takes you from providing normal care to providing excellent care. If you can prove that you’ve got a clear pathway in how a resident develops and how you can bring them back to their baseline, then that’s brilliant.” — Julie Burton

Azalea Court is now a home where sleep is genuinely protected — and where protecting sleep has reshaped safety, stability, nutrition, medication, commissioning, and residents’ long-term outcomes.

See how other care homes have protected sleep with Ally.

If you’d like to understand how these approaches could translate into your care home, from falls reduction to one-to-one reviews, our team can share what we’re seeing across other homes.  Book a demo today