Working towards the same goal: Facilitating Government’s digital vision
As the provider-led body supporting the care sector with technology and data sharing, Digital Care Hub welcomes Government’s focus on using technology to improve the efficiency and quality of services. In building on Labour’s manifesto pledge to ‘harness the power of technologies’ for public good, it has already announced a raft of pledges on the issue. This includes ensuring technology is central to January’s announcement of a three-year review of social care, through an ambitious pledge to develop new national care technology standards within a year.
Ministers hope the new standards will ‘ensure providers and families use the best care technology’ and enable care providers to be ‘fully digitised’. Helping older people live at home for longer, cutting red tape and improving career pathways for care workers are among other benefits of this march of technology in the sector, according to Government. We already know from providers that a focus on improving access to technology to provide up-to-date digital records improves both the quality and efficiency of care. But what steps must Government take to achieve its ambition for these new national care technology standards?
A business necessity
Ensuring the role of technology in the care sector is a business necessity, not an optional extra, is a good start. This will help prioritise the role of technology across the care sector and certainly help the case for providers to be properly funded to achieving this. Crucially, this needs to consider ongoing costs of technology, as implementing it is not a one-off cost. It is paramount the cost of introducing, implementing and maintaining digital technology is factored into the commissioning of care services.
Effective funding for technology in care does work. We have already seen the benefits in recent years of the Digitising Social Care Fund programme to help providers move from paper to digital record keeping. As of last year, around two thirds of CQC-registered organisations used a digital record system, compared to only two in five in 2021, when this fund launched.
The business case for further funding to improve access to technology in care is especially important, given the financial pressures facing providers and public services. The new standards need to take on board these financial challenges. Already, three in four providers say they are considering reducing or stopping digital transformation projects due to financial pressures, according to a survey published last year by national trade body, the Care Provider Alliance. An increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage are among latest pressures providers face.
In this financial climate, there is a risk that digital could be seen as a luxury, when in reality, it is fundamental to the future of care. Any disinvestment in technology would mean thousands of people using care would lose out on the benefits. Also, investing saves resources in the long term. Disinvestment risks wiping out the progress made in recent years. The stakes have never been higher to ensure that digitisation in the sector is backed by funding and support through the forthcoming standards.
Collaboration
Giving families a greater say in how care is provided is another aspect that is likely to be factored into the new standards, Government has suggested. In announcing its plans for care, it gives a specific example of families being more involved in decisions around expanding the use of sensor-based technology to reduce the impact of falls. Government says it wants to make it ‘easier for families to identify and agree which technologies will work best for an elderly person’. We back this call for families to have more of a say.
Our Manifesto for digitisation in the adult social care sector, which was published last year, calls for Government to run a public awareness campaign about the use of digital technology in social care, including a focus on rights and data security. But we think the new standards need to go further to ensure that providers at a national, regional and local level get their say in decisions around technology implementation. Government needs to bring together the expertise of all those involved, including families, providers, staff and technology suppliers.
We believe that digital transformation works best when it is codesigned and implemented through such a partnership. In addition, the new standards need to show that adult social care is not just focused on older people’s care. Social care also involves working-age people and individuals with mental health and learning difficulties, for example. Everyone who draws on care and support must be involved.
Data protection
The importance of data protection and cyber security is another priority we hope Government takes on board as it looks to develop new standards for how technology can best be deployed in care. If the sector is going to continue to implement technology at pace, we need to guarantee it is done securely. This is where ensuring funding is not just a one-off cost is especially important, so that providers can maintain and upgrade technology to keep their data and systems safe.
A focus on the importance of data sharing is another essential step Government needs to take as it drafts the new standards. The best social care is where our systems are integrated with health. People often use multiple services, and it is important that the appropriate information about them can be shared in the right way, with the right people at the right time. That all relies on good, secure digital systems. Providers’ decision-making around data sharing and protection would be made much easier with robust standards in place. Providers are experts in care but not necessarily experts in technology, and the new standards should be a useful, complementary tool.
Workforce skills
Another essential step we hope Government will take in developing the new standards is to develop the workforce’s digital skills. There has already been a lot of work in the sector over the past five years to set a strong foundation of digital skills. But if we are going to fully digitise the sector, there is a whole range of digital roles and an entire digital workforce that is needed.
The new standards should enable providers to identify where these roles are missing, who they may need to hire or where they can upskill their existing workforce. This focus on developing the digital skills of staff has already been mentioned in Skills for Care’s Workforce Strategy, which was launched last year and developed in collaboration with the adult social care sector. This stressed the importance of training the workforce to ‘use computers, phones and assistive technology to better support the people they care for’.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
The new standards must also be specific about how AI should be used. AI in social care must never lose sight of the human element of care. The technology should enhance, not replace, as the human touch defines our sector. AI can be a powerful tool for relieving administrative burdens and enabling staff to spend more time with those in their care, but it should never detract from the personal, face-to-face relationships that are at the heart of good care. The new standards need to make this point clear.
Furthermore, anything technology-focused being drafted now needs to be future proofed. We need to have new standards that set us on a path, that can be adapted and are not going to be outstripped by developments. My concern is that we are going to set up new standards that are not fit for purpose in three years.
Wider reform
Aside from Government’s specific focus on ensuring technology standards are central to reforming care, wider reforms are also being considered. For example, its blueprint for modern Digital government was released in January and spells out Government’s aim to use AI and other technology to improve efficiency across public services. While this mentions health and care, there is no specific mention of adult social care.
January also saw the launch of Government’s State of digital government review to assess how effectively the public sector uses technology to deliver services. Once again, there is no specific mention of adult social care, with a focus instead on assessing the use of technology in children’s care and more broadly across local authorities. Even without specific mention of adult social care, we as a sector need to ensure we work hand in glove with health, with councils and across public services, who are going to be impacted too.
It is exciting that Government is prioritising technology across services, and we are a sector that is ready for this reform. We are hearing all the time from providers that there is a real appetite for standardisation in how technology is used. But we need to be included in the conversation.
What would be the impact of new national care technology standards on your care business? Leave a comment on this feature or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
Michelle Corrigan is Programme Director at Digital Care Hub. Email: [email protected] X:@DigitalCareHub