What good looks like for digital working in adult social care: Support offer prospectus

In August 2021, the NHS published What Good Looks Like for Digital for integrated care systems which covers seven success measures. In 2022, working with Mason Advisory, we were asked to develop a Digital working in adult social care: What Good Looks Like framework for the adult social care sector. This was published in May 2023 and provides a national digital framework for adult social care covering both councils and care providers. ​

​The framework provides a series of common goals for organisations to work towards that will help achieve the vision set out in People at the Heart of Care. It is an aspirational framework designed to be used by councils and care providers. It was produced through a series of workshops and interviews with providers, councils and national membership organisations.​

​We believe that having a clear national framework for digital is the first step to enable systematic improvement for digital maturity in councils. Yet a framework alone is unlikely to support improvement. The two remaining elements needed to push digital improvement is an effective way to baseline and measure where councils are in relation to the framework and support for councils to address their areas for development. ​

​We have created a self-assessment tool and support offer for councils. The tool not only sets out what ‘good’ would look like but also what ‘not started’, ‘in progress’, ‘well-established’ and ‘advanced’ looks like across each success measure, and where to look for the evidence of that. ​ 

Our offer covers three tiers so there is support for councils whether that is universal through our WGLL self-assessment tool or through our one-to-one direct support with a council. 

The national offer enables all councils the opportunity to complete the WGLL self-assessment tool and receive a report on their digital maturity

The regional offer works with an ADASS region to support regional improvement:​

• we support councils within the region to complete WGLL tool​
• we provide regional analysis and benchmarking​
• we support regional agreement for digital improvement priorities​
• we facilitate peer to peer support within and across regions.

The council offer is direct support to a council to support those earlier on their digital journey to prioritise areas for improvement and create a development plan or clear strategy​.

The national offer enables all councils the opportunity to complete the WGLL self-assessment tool and receive a report on their digital maturity.

The aim of our direct council support offer
 

Our aim through our support offer is to specifically enable councils to move forward on their improvement journey​.

​Our support aims to enable councils to:​

• baseline their digital maturity ​
• understand their achievements and gaps for focus​
• prioritise areas for development​
• develop their vision and strategy​
• create a digital improvement plan.​

​The output we are working towards is having a clear strategy and/or improvement plan to take forward to support councils on their digital journey​.

​We will evaluate our direct support offer by doing initial feedback interviews with the council once we have finished the support. We will also provide a touch point at three, six and 12 months afterwards to try to understand what the impact has been of the support in the medium term.​

What is our direct council support offer?

We piloted this approach in 2023/24 with two councils following our regional work across the south west, north east and north west. We are now looking to widen our direct support offer to provide support to councils. ​

​We will liaise with both the ADASS regional lead and the regional care and health improvement adviser (CHIA) to ensure that this work aligns with any other support being offered to the council​​.

​We can offer the below elements to support your council:​​

• support to complete, or review completion, of the WGLL self-assessment tool (as required)​​
• identifying the right people to get around the table and facilitating stakeholder or partner engagement and buy in​​
• support to identify areas for development and goals based from the evidence from the WGLL self-assessment. We will provide analysis of your results to stimulate discussion and highlight success areas and areas for focus​​
• facilitation and support to create a digital improvement plan alongside any other requirements such as a case for change, a business case ​​
• support to develop a digital strategy​​
• if you already have a digital development plan we can also act as a critical friend and review your digital plans reflecting on both your WGLL results and your digital goals​​
• align the WGLL results to support your CQC assurance self-assessment​​
• provide learning opportunities from peer councils.

How we provide our support?

We can provide between three to five sessions of support to each council. We deliver our support through a mixture of in person and virtual sessions based on what works best for each council​.

​The way we deliver our support is through the following methods:​

• facilitation group sessions both virtual and in person​
• one to one virtual support to specific council officers to work through specific challenges, issues or on specific pieces of work​
• feedback to senior managers​
• support to draft digital improvement plan and/or strategy​.

​We will work with each council to agree both what the scope of the support is and the output. We will also agree with each council the best way to provide our support and adapt this as necessary to meet each councils needs.

What is required from councils?

For our direct support to work well we need to work with councils who are engaged and able to set aside time to work with us towards the agreed output. The following sets out what is required from a council:

​Before support can begin:​

• buy in from your Director of Adult Social Services and other relevant senior leaders ​
• a named contact in the council to be the link throughout the support​
• buy in and agreement to work collaboratively from council officers​
• agreement to take part in evaluation- post support interview and follow up at three, six and 12 months​
• willing to share any lessons learnt or good practice​.

​Throughout the support:​

• agree a clear output for the support and commit to undertake the necessary work between the sessions to achieve the agreed output​
• organise and schedule group sessions​
• allow time for officers to attend sessions and undertake any necessary work in between sessions​
• take forward the work once we have agreed next steps and priorities.

What are the steps in the process?

Although the specific support provided to each council will be based on their individual needs the following sets out the standard steps within our WGLL support.

Feedback from interviews with digital leads from two councils to explore their experience receiving tailored individual support (July 2024)

Positive actions resulting from the process:​

• clear focus and improved oversight​ Raised profile of work being completed and also for tech and the digital agenda in general​
• quick wins and momentum boost as well as a 12 to18 month plan to keep things moving​
• plans to continue connecting with other councils.

What went well:​

• insightful, helpful, positive support​
• strong relationships with the facilitators established early on​
• ability to shape the direction of the support​
• facilitators were a ‘critical friend’, meeting the council where they were at​
• learning opportunities from other councils were the strongest part of the support​
• worthwhile investment of time​
• good communication, follow up emails formulated and summarised a lot of complex information well​
• professional yet friendly and open approach.

The aim of our regional support offer
 

The aim of the regional WGLL support offer for councils within the region is to:

• baseline themselves by completing the WGLL tool
• benchmark themselves within their region
• benefit from sharing good practice within and across regions.

The aim of the regional WGLL support offer for regions is to:

• benchmark both within the region and with other regions
• agree regional improvement priorities to drive forward regional improvement
• share learning within and across the regions
   

How we deliver our support
 

We piloted this approach in 2023/24 with three ADASS regions (south west, north east and north west). We are now looking to support all regions through our regional support offer. We work closely with the ADASS regional lead to ensure that this work supports existing regional work across councils. ​

​Our support can last between three to six months. We will deliver the following support to the region:​

• host an online launch event to walk through the WGLL tool and support offer, this will include timescales for completion and what support councils can access to complete the tool​
• send all councils the WGLL tool guidance, a unique online link to the WGLL tool, and an ‘offline’ excel version of the tool 
• provide Q&A drop in sessions as requested by the region and provide responses to council queries via email and calls ​
• agree and work to a regional deadline for councils to complete the tool (this is agreed with your regional ADASS lead)​
• all councils receive an individual report with their results following completion of the WGLL tool​
• undertake regional analysis and provide this in clear visual presentations
• ​highlight potential regional improvement priorities and facilitate a session to agree priorities as a region​
• feedback to the regional digital network and to senior leaders. We provide further feedback sessions on request, for instance at an ICS level​
• facilitate peer support sessions within your region ​
• work with the ADASS regional lead to identify councils who may benefit from direct one-to-one support.

What regional information we provide
 

We will provide each region with the following information as part of our offer:​

• full WGLL results from all councils to use as needed within the region​
• regional comparison graphs against each WGLL success measure. This specifically pulls out information on percentage of councils within the region who received each status for the seven success measures. This allows benchmarking across regions
• a council summary table which sets out the results for each council in the region. Council success measure tables which set out the grade for each success measure. Note the information we send to councils will contain the council names​
• WGLL regional summary table which sets out the per cent of statements within each success measure across all councils the region. This is used to help identify priorities​
• list of good practice councils for each success measure to assist in peer support.

What is required from regions?

For the regional support to work well we need to work closely with our regional ADASS colleagues as well as all councils within the region. The following sets out what is required from the region:​

​Before support can begin:​

• buy in from senior leaders through the regional ADASS branch meeting​
• buy in and agreement to work collaboratively from ADASS regional sector led improvement and policy leads​.

​Throughout the support:​

• hold fortnightly meetings with the ADASS regional lead ​
• ADASS regional lead to provide the links and interface with councils
• working to get the engagement from councils, identify council leads and bring the region together​
• set an agreed deadline for submission of WGLL by all councils in the region​
• take forward the improvement priorities once agreed by the region​.

After the support:​

• take part in a post support evaluation interview and follow up at three, six and 12 months​
• councils to complete an evaluation form.

Feedback from the pilot
 

Feedback from interviews with regional leads from three regions to explore their experience receiving regional support (May 2024).

Positive actions resulting from the process:​

• raised the profile of ‘digital’ in councils​
• established and improved relationships​
• provided evidence for CQC​
• regional structure and focus​
• strong foundation to move forwards (for example, framework for regional strategy, benchmarking to identify areas for improvement, workplan for the year)​
• opportunity for parallel projects.

What went well:​

• expectations clearly set out at the start and true to the actions required​
• good communication: regular meetings, flexible, easy to access support, responsive​
• breadth of areas covered​
• opportunities to share experiences​
• proud of the collective effort and contribution​
• well received presentations ​
• councils able to develop their own processes for completion.

Ways we have improved the offer following the pilot:​

• updated the guidance on how to complete the tool, and provided an 'offline' version of the tool to use​
• included analysis of WGLL statements in alignment with the CQC assurance framework within council feedback reports​
• included visual results summaries within council feedback reports.

"We have been able to identify gaps in preparation for CQC assurance."

"We have a clear focus, buy in from higher management, and a bit of inspiration."

There was lots of information to come out of the regional work so the individual support helped us narrow down on some local priorities."

"Bringing people together from different teams and facilitating conversations that otherwise might not have happened has raised the profile of digital in the council."

"I have been able to build connections and relationships with the councils in the region."

The work has strengthened the light on tech and the digital agenda, it has reinforced its relevance and importance, and has knocked it up the priority list."

"First class support!"

"The support was insightful, helpful and positive… [the facilitators] were spot on."

"Previously we had a regional strategy not fit for purpose… the support has given us a framework for our regional strategy and we will use the benchmarking to identify areas where there is further to travel, design a workplan for the year, and identify regional priorities."

I am proud of [the region] signing up and making a collective effort to contribute."
 

If you are interested in taking a regional or direct support approach and would like to find out more please email [email protected]

We are able to support two councils per quarter, so if there is high demand we may need to implement a waiting list. This support offer is paid for by DHSC and NHSTD, there is no charge to councils.

We are unable to offer implementation support to councils for their digital projects as part of this offer. If this is something you would like help with we can talk to you about this as part of a costed offer.