From Yokohama City | On-site Transformation Achieved Through Six Months of Accompaniment Support
TRAPE Co., Ltd. conducted six months of accompaniment support for eight care facilities in Yokohama City as part of the "Reiwa 7th Year Yokohama City Care Facility Operational Improvement Support Project." By prioritizing on-site autonomy, the project contributed to improving the well-being of both staff and users, achieving results such as reduced overtime, secured break times, increased acceptance of new users, and creation of care time.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 30, 2026 at 23:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 30, 2026 at 14:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 30, 2026 at 15:22 (50 min after Collected)
TRAPE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture; Representative Director: Hiroaki Kamata) conducted accompaniment support for eight care facilities in Yokohama City as part of the "Reiwa 7th Year Yokohama City Care Facility Operational Improvement Support Project" commissioned by Yokohama City.
"Always hectic," "Chasing tasks, unable to focus on care," "Introduced new technology, but it's not being used."
In the accompaniment support of this project, we did not impose solutions from the outside in response to such urgent voices from care sites.
What we valued most this time was "on-site autonomy." We aimed for the sites to become organizations that can autonomously continue improvements even after the support ends. All on-site staff engaged in "dialogue" to identify issues and solutions, and the team worked together to implement initiatives.
As a result, not only were "staff burdens reduced" through measures like overtime reduction and securing break times, but also "increased acceptance of new users" and "creation of care time" were achieved. These significant improvements in the well-being of both users and staff were generated by the power of the on-site personnel themselves. We will share the real changes that the care site staff themselves pioneered in this project.
**What was valued in this project**
Amidst a super-aging society and the urgent call for a shortage of care workers, "productivity improvement" and "ICT adoption" are considered urgent tasks. However, cries from the field include: "We introduced care software, but we're still doing double entry with paper," "We have intercoms, but no one uses them," and "We're too busy with daily tasks to even have time to discuss improvement measures."
In reality, the true issue at care sites is not the lack of technology adoption, but the "lack of preparation for staff to share current issues and think about solutions together in the same direction." In other words, "building a foundation for the site to change autonomously" is indispensable before introducing technology.
Therefore, in this project, eight model facilities were selected from Yokohama City's care facilities, and support was provided for fundamental productivity improvement initiatives, not limited to mere equipment introduction. This included the utilization of ICT devices and care robots, the utilization of care assistants, and the promotion of diverse work styles.
Furthermore, by disseminating the activities and results of this project to care facilities in Yokohama City through social media and results reporting sessions, we aimed to promote understanding of productivity improvement initiatives in care facilities and expand and promote these efforts.
**Case Studies Showing Real Changes on Site (Partial)**
**Case 1: [Home Care] Breaking away from "Can't accept new clients anymore...!" Eliminating "waste" in records, creating increased sales and dialogue time.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
Home visit records were duplicated on "paper" and "care software," and there was "unnecessary recording" in the content itself. As a result, an average of 51 minutes per person per day was spent on recording, leaving no time to accept new client requests.
**[Approach]**
Consolidated input into care software as much as possible, and the entire team practiced using "smartphone voice input," which tends to be avoided. Rules for writing records (concise, fact-only) were redefined through dialogue.
**[Changes Achieved]**
Recording time was significantly reduced to 12 minutes per person per day (a decrease of 39 minutes). The time created increased staff dialogue from 18 minutes to 44 minutes (an increase of 26 minutes). Furthermore, it became possible to accept new users, with the number of users increasing from 19 to 24, and the number of visits increasing from 286 to 341 per month, leading to increased facility sales.
**Case 2: [Geriatric Health Care Facility] Resolving "duplicate call responses" and "disjointed movements"! Creating a sense of team unity with master lines and intercoms.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
Daily workflow and role assignments were unclear, and priorities varied among staff. As a result, movements were inefficient, leading to waste such as multiple staff responding to a single call.
**[Approach]**
Created a "master line" that clarifies the overall daily workflow and role assignments, based on a draft by the on-site leader and incorporating everyone's opinions. Additionally, intercoms were introduced, and rules for their use during call responses were clarified.
**[Changes Achieved]**
Through collaboration using intercoms, the "number of times call responses overlapped with other staff" decreased by 37%, and the feeling that "role assignments for call responses are clear" increased by 82%. Connecting in real-time with intercoms fostered a sense of team unity, where "everyone is working together," significantly improving ease of work and job satisfaction (almost all staff felt the improvement).
**Case 3: [Day Rehabilitation] Resolving "bath time chaos" with induction charts and transceivers! Creating a space where users can feel at ease calling out.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
During bathing duties, the order of induction and roles were unclear, leading to constant chaos. Also, staff were often in the bathing area.
**[Approach]**
(The approach for Case 3 is truncated in the original text, so I will translate what is available and note the truncation.)
**[Changes Achieved]**
(The changes achieved for Case 3 are truncated in the original text, so I will translate what is available and note the truncation.)
"Always hectic," "Chasing tasks, unable to focus on care," "Introduced new technology, but it's not being used."
In the accompaniment support of this project, we did not impose solutions from the outside in response to such urgent voices from care sites.
What we valued most this time was "on-site autonomy." We aimed for the sites to become organizations that can autonomously continue improvements even after the support ends. All on-site staff engaged in "dialogue" to identify issues and solutions, and the team worked together to implement initiatives.
As a result, not only were "staff burdens reduced" through measures like overtime reduction and securing break times, but also "increased acceptance of new users" and "creation of care time" were achieved. These significant improvements in the well-being of both users and staff were generated by the power of the on-site personnel themselves. We will share the real changes that the care site staff themselves pioneered in this project.
**What was valued in this project**
Amidst a super-aging society and the urgent call for a shortage of care workers, "productivity improvement" and "ICT adoption" are considered urgent tasks. However, cries from the field include: "We introduced care software, but we're still doing double entry with paper," "We have intercoms, but no one uses them," and "We're too busy with daily tasks to even have time to discuss improvement measures."
In reality, the true issue at care sites is not the lack of technology adoption, but the "lack of preparation for staff to share current issues and think about solutions together in the same direction." In other words, "building a foundation for the site to change autonomously" is indispensable before introducing technology.
Therefore, in this project, eight model facilities were selected from Yokohama City's care facilities, and support was provided for fundamental productivity improvement initiatives, not limited to mere equipment introduction. This included the utilization of ICT devices and care robots, the utilization of care assistants, and the promotion of diverse work styles.
Furthermore, by disseminating the activities and results of this project to care facilities in Yokohama City through social media and results reporting sessions, we aimed to promote understanding of productivity improvement initiatives in care facilities and expand and promote these efforts.
**Case Studies Showing Real Changes on Site (Partial)**
**Case 1: [Home Care] Breaking away from "Can't accept new clients anymore...!" Eliminating "waste" in records, creating increased sales and dialogue time.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
Home visit records were duplicated on "paper" and "care software," and there was "unnecessary recording" in the content itself. As a result, an average of 51 minutes per person per day was spent on recording, leaving no time to accept new client requests.
**[Approach]**
Consolidated input into care software as much as possible, and the entire team practiced using "smartphone voice input," which tends to be avoided. Rules for writing records (concise, fact-only) were redefined through dialogue.
**[Changes Achieved]**
Recording time was significantly reduced to 12 minutes per person per day (a decrease of 39 minutes). The time created increased staff dialogue from 18 minutes to 44 minutes (an increase of 26 minutes). Furthermore, it became possible to accept new users, with the number of users increasing from 19 to 24, and the number of visits increasing from 286 to 341 per month, leading to increased facility sales.
**Case 2: [Geriatric Health Care Facility] Resolving "duplicate call responses" and "disjointed movements"! Creating a sense of team unity with master lines and intercoms.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
Daily workflow and role assignments were unclear, and priorities varied among staff. As a result, movements were inefficient, leading to waste such as multiple staff responding to a single call.
**[Approach]**
Created a "master line" that clarifies the overall daily workflow and role assignments, based on a draft by the on-site leader and incorporating everyone's opinions. Additionally, intercoms were introduced, and rules for their use during call responses were clarified.
**[Changes Achieved]**
Through collaboration using intercoms, the "number of times call responses overlapped with other staff" decreased by 37%, and the feeling that "role assignments for call responses are clear" increased by 82%. Connecting in real-time with intercoms fostered a sense of team unity, where "everyone is working together," significantly improving ease of work and job satisfaction (almost all staff felt the improvement).
**Case 3: [Day Rehabilitation] Resolving "bath time chaos" with induction charts and transceivers! Creating a space where users can feel at ease calling out.**
**[On-site Challenge]**
During bathing duties, the order of induction and roles were unclear, leading to constant chaos. Also, staff were often in the bathing area.
**[Approach]**
(The approach for Case 3 is truncated in the original text, so I will translate what is available and note the truncation.)
**[Changes Achieved]**
(The changes achieved for Case 3 are truncated in the original text, so I will translate what is available and note the truncation.)