The LGA in collaboration with NHS Digital is grant funding digital innovation in social care. Twelve councils were selected for the third wave of funding, with six progressing to implementation. Find out more about the 43 projects funded across the three years.
- Background
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Over the last two years NHS Digital has funded 31 councils to provide digital solutions to social care challenges. In 2017-18 we saw Amazon Alexa introduced in Hampshire to reduce isolation and enhance independence; Luton and Central Bedfordshire improved the digital maturity of care homes and Norfolk increased referrals from customer services to appropriate voluntary sector support. In 2018-19 Nottingham is exploring an outcomes portal, Isle of Wight is testing exoskeletal devices for informal carers and Wirral is investing in biometric wearables to better understand support for people with autism.
In 2019-21 12 more councils will use the principles of service design to develop genuinely new ideas to improve social care, seeking innovative uses of digital technology in service design to improve the service user’s experience and/or enable better service planning and commissioning.
- The Programme
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The 2019-21 programme aims to:
- use principles of service design to address social care problems differently
- develop collaborative, innovative and person-led solutions to social care problems
- measure the benefits, share learning and practice to encourage wider action.
Up to £120,000 funding is split into two phases: a discovery phase (April to September 2019) and an implementation phase (December 2019 to December 2020). During the discovery phase, councils will be supported to research and understand the needs, behaviours and experiences of users (social care service users, informal carers, social care providers, health partners and the voluntary sector. Councils will be supported on this journey by Snook, a design agency. Councils are expected to bring local partners through the discovery phase to develop a detailed proposal for the implementation phase.
- Discovery phase
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Cambridgeshire County Council
Enhancing the independence of those with learning disabilities in the community during their transition to adult social care.Cambridgeshire Progress Report - July 2019
Cambridgeshire Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Cambridgeshire Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
London Borough of Camden
Using technology to provide travel assistance and establish long term independent travelCamden Progress Report - July 2019
Camden Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Camden Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Derbyshire County Council
Designing and testing a remote assessment process for some adaptations in domestic environmentsDerbyshire Progress Report - July 2019
Derbyshire Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Derbyshire Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Essex County Council
Exploring real-time prediction and/or monitoring of falls testing technology used in other fieldsEssex Progress Report - July 2019
Essex Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Essex Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Kirklees Council
Providing direct citizen access to real-time information held about care needs and servicesKirklees Progress Report - July 2019
Kirklees Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Kirklees Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Leeds City Council
Digitally integrating care homes into the health and care system to ensure personalised, joined up careLeeds Progress Report - July 2019
Leeds Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Leeds Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Newcastle City Council
Exploring how community equipment provided at the right time to maximise independenceNewcastle Progress Report - July 2019
Newcastle Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Newcastle Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Norfolk County Council
A new process for booking and allocating appointments for social workers, care managers and therapistsNorfolk Progress Report - July 2019
Norfolk Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Norfolk Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
North East Lincolnshire Council
Improving home care communications, rostering, tracking of visits, outcomes and costsNE Lincolnshire Progress Report - July 2019
NE Lincolnshire Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
NE Lincolnshire Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
North Somerset Council
Using technology to support identifying and proactively manage hydration in care homesNorth Somerset Progress Report - July 2019
North Somerset Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
North Somerset Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
Richmond and Wandsworth Councils
Identifying informal carers and developing awareness of the local offer of support and servicesRichmond and Wandsworth Progress Report - July 2019
Richmond and Wandsworth Discovery Phase Review - October 2019
Richmond and Wandsworth Discovery Phase Case Study - November 2019
London Borough of Southwark
Exploring better management and prevention of fallsSouthwark Progress Report - July 2019
- Implementation phase
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Following the kick-off event on 9 December 2019, SCDIP councils have made considerable progress with implementation even while managing and responding to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Their progress reports can be viewed below:
- Cambridgeshire County Council: Helping increase the independence of those with low to moderate learning disability needs in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire implementation progress report – June 2020 - London Borough of Camden: Helping residents travel in their daily lives and overcome any anxieties or accessibility issues they face by creating an easy-to-read, use and follow map with navigation aids, such as pictures of landmarks
Camden implementation progress report – June 2020 - Derbyshire County Council: Implementing digital tools to enable remote assessments for adaptations and equipment for clients
Derbyshire implementation progress report – June 2020 - Kirklees Council: Enabling a prototype of a self-service care account to be created into a working online self-service account giving service users access to their information 24/7 and ultimately more control
Kirklees implementation progress report – June 2020 - North Somerset Council: Development and implementation of a progressive web-based application to support carers to deliver effective hydration care and prevent dehydration in care homes
North Somerset implementation progress report – June 2020 - London Borough of Southwark: Working with Safe Steps to adapt their care homes falls risk assessment and prevention app to be used in community settings
Southwark implementation progress report – June 2020
These councils continue to receive expert service design support from Snook and benefits evaluation and realisation support from RSM and NHS Digital as their projects progress.
Materials from the recent accessibility and forthcoming analytics workshops led by Snook will be published shortly, alongside further updates during the year as the projects move to completion in March 2021.
- Cambridgeshire County Council: Helping increase the independence of those with low to moderate learning disability needs in Cambridgeshire
- The Accelerator
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In 2019/20, three projects sought partner councils to help co-fund and co-develop a collaborative digital solution to the following areas across social care with programme partner CC2i:
- a people and partnership-centred approach to the new Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) legislation
- multi-agency domiciliary care medicine support
- home assessments virtual reality app: Think ‘Ikea Place’ for Adult Social Care.
The first two projects each attracted five partner councils and discovery reports for the LPS and medicine support projects were published. For medicines support in domiciliary care, a peer reviewed stakeholder specification, which outlines the requirements and benefits of a digital approach, and a short video to support council commissioners and care providers make the case for investment in digital solutions have now been developed. These will shortly be published on Digital Social Care.
The SCDIA 2020/21 programme has commenced and councils are co-funding and co-developing digital projects focused on discharge to assess, virtual support for vulnerable people, and multi-agency safeguarding.
Recently added
7 July 2020: Implementation progress reports published.
29 January 2020: Discovery phase case studies have been published for the 12 Social Care Digital Innovation Programme councils in 2019-21. Take a look at the overall discovery evaluation report for learning from this phase along with reflections on key themes from the first two waves of the programme including: assistive technology, data use and visualisation, evaluating digital transformation, the front door, user research and collaboration with care providers.
12 November 2019: Discovery phase reports for LPS and medicine support projects on the Social Care Digital Innovation Accelerator programme have been published
31 October: 2019 Discovery phase reviews have been published for the 12 Social Care Digital Innovation Programme councils in 2019-21
10 July 2019: Elaine’s journey through social care presented at Carers’ UK’s State of Caring conference introducing a few digital projects which may have improved her journey
4 July 2019: Interesting blog from the National Audit Office about lessons learnt from major programmes.
10 May 2019: The Local Investment Programme 2017/18 final evaluation report published, including a Social Care Digital project checklist.
30 January 2019: Progress reports from project funded for the implementation phase in 2018-19 programme
1 January 2019: Review of the SCDIP Discovery Phase looking at methods of carrying out a successful discovery phase.
Further information
If any of the projects could be of interest to your authority, please get in touch. For more information or if you have any queries please contact socialcaredigital@local.gov.uk.