Innovate UK has awarded RIVIAM £48,450 in funding to support further development of its new social prescribing platform.
The platform is currently being used in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) by Virgin Care, BaNES Council and third sector organisations, including Age UK BaNES, Citizens Advice BaNES and Bath Mind.
It’s being used to coordinate mental health, wellbeing and welfare for the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past three months the system has been used in the area to manage 6,500 calls and 1,500 cases.
The company said the new developments will enable authorised users to set and share tasks, track outcomes and instant message each other about cases.
Claire Thorogood, Head of Contracting & Performance, BaNES Council, said: “Providing a system whereby partners can share information securely and work more collaboratively has been and will continue to be crucial to the success of the Hub. This has transformed how we have worked in partnership.”
“RIVIAM has contributed to the success of the Hub because all partners can track the support we offer to individuals to best meet their needs. It also enables staff across all organisations to work more flexibly whether that is from the Hub or at home. We welcome this additional funding that has been secured.”
Paul Targett, Managing Director of RIVIAM Digital Care, commented: “People only want to tell their story once and to receive a timely, personalised response from different agencies working together. But it’s currently really hard for organisations using different IT systems to share information securely and co-ordinate care. Also, providers in the third sector don’t have the digital capabilities to communicate easily with their health and social care partners.”
“With RIVIAM Wellbeing, organisations in different sectors can collaborate as one team harnessing their collective power to deliver for people in need. The funding from Innovate UK allows us to develop a new way for multi-agency care to be delivered making taxpayers money go further.”
Kate Morton, CEO, Bath Mind, said: “The establishment of the Compassionate Community Hub in response to the pandemic has been an amazing achievement. Ensuring a collaborative, multi-agency approach to community service provision has been vital to meeting the needs of the BaNES community, and RIVIAM has been instrumental in this. It has allowed all organisations to work in a more efficient and coordinated way and so provide a flexible, timely response to our communities.”
