Digital Revolution in Social Care

England’s increasing older population is fuelling greater demand for adult social care services. We need to look at different ways of delivering social care in England and the implementation of new technology provides an opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of care in older age. In March 2020, Health Innovation Network (HIN) and DigitalHealth.London (DH.L) ran an event to bring together local authority commissioners, healthcare providers and innovators, to articulate the needs of the social care system and the potential for digital and technological solutions.

Project overview

England’s increasing older population is fuelling greater demand for adult social care services. We need to look at different ways of delivering social care in England and the implementation of new technology provides an opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of care in older age. In March 2020, Health Innovation Network (HIN) and DigitalHealth.London (DH.L) ran an event to bring together local authority commissioners, healthcare providers and innovators, to articulate the needs of the social care system and the potential for digital and technological solutions.

Local authorities in south London often come to us at HIN for guidance on using digital solutions to support their social care teams and keep their residents safe in their own homes. To meet this need, we ran an Innovation Exchange event to showcase both local projects that are revolutionising health and social care, and introduce 10 digital innovations that address the pressures on adult social care such as tele-health, assistive technology and falls prevention. We heard from:

We shared experiences of the journey to using digital solutions, discussing the need for careful planning, the importance of research and co-design and the value of engaging with the right people, in particular, involving users to safeguard against a lack of adoption by residents and care professionals.

At the event, a selection of the most cutting-edge digital innovations were also presented, and discussions on how the health and care system and our industry partners could work together to shape the future of social care delivery were facilitated.

Watch this video to learn more about the event:

Working with the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator (DH.LA) programme, we identified 10 companies that offer digital solutions to the major challenges facing social care. We held an open and rigorous application process for digital health innovators with products and services that can support our social care sector. The successful companies had the opportunity to pitch their innovations to adult social care commissioners, providers and other stakeholders at the event.

The companies that presented were:

“We’re facing a funding challenge. We’re also facing the challenge of increasing complexity with growing numbers of older people in particular as well as a workforce challenge. Digital technology isn’t going to replace human interactions, but they are going to help us complement that”. Mark Allen, Hampshire County Council

Matching innovations with the social care challenges

Today, as our health and care system is being tested beyond anything most people could have imagined, we need to fast track technology into care homes and our social care services. If you have an evidence-based innovation that could benefit these services, get in touch.

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