Technology keeps improving every year, bringing us new innovations and helping us to improve project delivery worldwide. In the field of adult social care, digital technology has the potential to transform services and offer a wealth of opportunities.
Digital technologies played a critical role in supporting people receiving care, care providers and care organisations throughout the pandemic. As a result, despite many challenges, the adult social care sector and the UK Government have continued to adapt at scale and pace to provide support for communities.
Policy proposals
Integrating health and social care services has been a long-standing goal for many years, with several policies having been written and published in the last decade.
In 2014, NHS England published a strategy called Five Year Forward View, which outlined a vision to transform the NHS and social care in England to become more integrated. The NHS Long Term Plan then followed, published in 2018, to set out additional steps towards integration. Then, in 2021, a White Paper was published: Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all, setting forth legislative change to enable better integration in England. Finally, in 2022, the Health and social care integration: joining up care for people, places and populations policy was published, setting out measures to make integrated health and social care a universal reality for everyone across England, regardless of their condition and where they live.
Understanding trends
The Centre for Ageing Better reports that almost 11 million people in the UK are aged 65 and over, representing 19% of the UK population. Over the next ten years, the number of people aged 65 and older is projected to rise to 13 million, that’s 22% of the population.
According to our National Health Service, in England, it is estimated that around 676,000 people are affected by dementia. Across the UK, the number is estimated to be around 850,000, which is predicted to rise exponentially to 1.6 million by 2024. The King’s Fund reports that around 15 million people in England have a long-term condition, which is rising. Most people are receiving good care, yet more could be done to support effective pathways for people with long-term conditions, preventing health problems from escalating and avoiding hospital admissions.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports that an increasing number of people are waiting for treatment. The latest figures show:
- A record of over 6.84 million people waiting for treatment.
- 67 million patients are waiting over 18 weeks for treatment, a further increase from last month.
- 377,689 patients are waiting over one year for treatment, which is over 365 times the 1,032 people waiting over a year pre-pandemic in July 2019.
- A median waiting time for treatment is 13.3 weeks, which is significantly higher than the pre-COVID duration.
It is therefore important to keep track of health and care statistics to better understand trends in the population, patterns of medical conditions and the ever-growing need for healthcare. The adoption of digital social care records and other care technologies, such as Person Centred Software’s digital care planning systems, will give care providers more time to care and strives to improve quality, efficiency and outcomes for those living and working within the sector.
Further afield: Australia
While the UK’s social care providers are undergoing a digital transformation, with 30% currently using paper-based systems and 30% partially digitalised, Australia has already embraced digital solutions and is way ahead of the game. Innovative technologies have long been used to improve healthcare delivery in Australia’s health sector. In recent years, digital technologies have made healthcare services and products more accessible and available, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling providers and users to improve health outcomes and strengthen data systems.
Shifting the focus
The Aged Care Workforce Report revealed that the workload for aged care staff is increasing. During the past year, 94% of workers experienced an increase in workload due to COVID-19 regulations. Also, 85% of workers reported a higher workload after the introduction of the 2019 Aged Care Quality Standards. By 2021, 85% of workers reported increased workloads due to COVID-19 regulations and 74% reported increased workloads due to Aged Care Quality Standards. Both numbers increased by 10% in 2022.
Managing an increasing volume of paperwork requires aged care workers to have the right tools. Last year, the Australian Government approved the development of the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) and replaced the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI). The AN-ACC will reduce the administrative burden of completing assessments and offers consistency in the types of assessments used.
With this switch, documentation has shifted from primarily funded-driven, as with ACFI, to documentation with a re-enablement approach. AN-ACC helps address critical issues around care quality, including appropriate staffing and more transparent and equitable funding. It puts the focus of funding in aged care directly back on the care needs of the residents. Person Centred Software’s globally recognised Clinical Care System was Australia’s first fully mobile clinical documentation system. In addition to being fully mobile, carers can evidence care at the point of delivery, and the icon-driven interface streamlines the entire process, which encourages carers to record and evidence more care notes.
A role model: The Netherlands
By 2040, the number of Dutch people aged 75 and older is expected to double, reaching almost 2.5 million. The Netherlands spends among the highest proportions of GDP on elderly care. The Dutch Government is concerned that the share of the workforce helping the sick and frail could rise from one-seventh to one-third.
In the Netherlands, the healthcare system is based on several principles that are more or less universal:
- Access to care for all.
- Solidarity through medical insurance (which is compulsory for all and available to all).
- High-quality healthcare services.
Due to an ageing population, rising healthcare costs and a staff shortage, the Netherlands is moving away from complexity and regulatory burdens to more innovative, data-driven and digital approaches. With the early adoption of digital health, a highly developed health information infrastructure and efficiently digitised primary care, the Dutch life sciences and health ecosystem is already a role model.
Recently, the Government’s policy has been to help more and more older adults live comfortably at home because it’s cheaper to do so than to put people in nursing or care homes. Homecare organisations assist older adults living in their own homes by helping them with day-to-day activities, such as getting in and out of bed, getting outside, dressing, eating and drinking, using the toilet and personal hygiene. Care software in the Netherlands provides medical and social care to people at home. An assessment by trained nurses is carried out to identify the person’s needs and to develop a tailored care plan. The aim is to define care objectives for each problem area and to monitor progress continuously. In addition, the software helps to guide and document the entire care process.
Technological innovations have supported integrated care for a relatively long time. As a result, a number of technological innovations are in place locally and nationally that support integrated care, including electronic client/patient records that enable GPs, homecare agencies and hospitals to exchange client information.
The Dutch Government is constantly developing new and improved artificial intelligence systems to cut down expenditures. For example, new AI technology is currently being developed to assist the elderly in taking care of themselves.
Provider take-homes
The Australian Government has acknowledged aged care workers’ demand for more pay and has pledged to cover any potential pay rise for aged care workers. The UK should follow suit; if care workers were paid competitive wages, particularly for lower-paid employees, it would significantly reduce staff turnover in the care sector.
In the Netherlands, care providers are incentivised to innovate and research how technology can enable better outcomes. Consequently, new technology has been embraced with positive results, meaning other territories can look to follow suit with less risk of failure.
The Netherlands has also redefined what a care home looks and feels like, making them more community based. Suitable housing and healthcare facilities for the elderly are a priority for the Government. For example, Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands features 23 uniquely styled homes furnished around the period when residents’ short-term memories stopped adequately functioning. The houses resemble the 1950s, 1970s and 2000s because it helps residents feel at home. Its residents are served and cared for by 250 full-time and part-time geriatric nurses and specialists who wander the town and hold various occupations in the village, such as cashiers, grocery-store attendees and post-office clerks.
Championing independence
The UK is far from alone in facing the implications of an ageing population. To reduce pressure on adult social care and the NHS, as well as ensure people can live fulfilled lives, we must support older people to live as independently as possible, in line with the Dutch Government’s policy. A similar strategy is in place in Australia, helping people stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. What’s key in the ongoing discussions is that healthcare providers must evolve to meet the challenges of an ageing and growing population and, at the same time, champion independence to help ease pressures.