Councils can get help with improving their digital social care provision
Digital technology is a cornerstone in how councils can best meet the needs of their residents.
For councils with adult social care responsibility, embedding technology into care and support can be transformative.
Good ‘digital maturity’ is not just a buzz phrase. Care technology supports two million people to live independently, safely and well, connected with family and community. Everyday devices – including sensors, speakers and tablets – can provide reassurance and timely alerts to carers, enabling proactive support.
For councils facing budget and staffing constraints, investment in digital culture, equipment and skills also pays dividends through efficiencies and preventing admissions to hospital and residential care.
The LGA and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), as Partners in Care and Health (PCH), developed the ‘Digital working in adult social care: what good looks like’ framework for the adult social care sector last year.
It is an aspirational framework that sets out what good digital maturity looks like within adult social care. It was co-designed with councils and the sector, and is the first time we have had a clear national digital framework.
A framework for digital working is the first step to enabling systematic improvement for councils. Yet a framework alone is unlikely to support improvement. To enable councils to move forward on their digital journey, they also need to be able to measure where they are and then address their areas for development.
PCH has created a comprehensive support offer for councils with adult social care responsibility, to identify and plan how to move forward to address their development areas.
Using the ‘What good looks like’ framework, councils are supported across the board: from being well led and building smart foundations, through to digital working that can enable safe practice, a supported workforce, improved care, empowered people, and a healthy population.
This support is split into three levels, with something for everyone.
At the national level, all councils can complete PCH’s ‘What good looks like for digital in adult social care – self-assessment tool’ and receive a comprehensive report on their digital maturity.
The tool not only sets out what ‘good’ would look like, but also what ‘not started’, ‘in progress’, ‘well-established’ and ‘advanced’ look like across each success measure.
At regional level, PCH works with ADASS to support councils within a region to: complete the ‘What good looks like’ tool; provide regional analysis and benchmarking; support regional agreement on digital improvement priorities; and facilitate peer-to-peer support within and across regions.
At council level, PCH provides direct support to individual councils on their digital journey by prioritising areas for improvement, creating a digital development plan or strategy, and helping review digital plans and strategies to ensure that councils meet their digital vision.
Currently, PCH is working with five out of the nine regions and is keen to ensure it can work with all regions who would be interested.
It also still has some capacity to provide direct support to councils for the 2024/25 year.
- If you think your council could benefit from our digital ‘What good looks like’ support, you can find out more on the PCH website or contact the team direct on [email protected]
