Tunstall Healthcare has supported the creation of a new County Councils Network (CCN) report; Adopting the right technology to transform social care, which explores how technology can support a system under pressure, people with social care needs, and the importance of implementing digital change across the care landscape.
This report follows up on our previous 2021 collaboration which highlighted the importance of placing technology at the heart of the Government’s plans for social care reform. Subsequently the Government announced a specific £150m investment to drive greater adoption of technology and achieve widespread digitisation of social care. Having identified the ‘why’, this new report helps local authorities consider ‘how’ they can best make use of this investment.
As well as transforming services, the report highlights that digital transformation can hugely benefit citizens, from allowing more independence to widening understanding around condition management and enabling more preventative approaches. The authors recognise that the citizen should be at the centre of what we do and when we get it right for them, the system benefits through financial savings and cost avoidance, enhanced digital literacy and improved social return on investment (SROI).
Tunstall’s work with the CCN has outlined a pathway to adopting digital technologies effectively, from enabling local authorities, to ensuring excellent support services are fully embedded.
Practical steps recommended in the report include:
- Balancing the needs of providers with those of citizens
- Allowing sufficient time to embed change into organisational culture
- Working in partnership with providers and Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to deliver effective TEC and data led practice
- Realising the potential technology has to reduce pressure on frontline services and increasing productivity
