The Health Foundation has opened a new programme to help to launch projects that demonstrate how data and analytics can be used to improve social care.
£300,000 is being made available to support 5 projects with funding up to £60,000 each. Projects must be able to demonstrate how data and analytics can address key challenges to help the social care sector respond to COVID-19 and its aftermath.
As part of the programme a community of best practice will be formed to support good practice in social care analytics going forward.
The Health Foundation said: “COVID-19 is having a profound impact on people needing and using care, and their carers. Analysis is urgently needed to help us understand the problems they are facing and the actions that need to be taken, ahead of a possible resurgence in the virus.”
“We’re looking for projects that can demonstrate how data analytics can be used to improve social care and help to catalyse further change in the social care data analytics system by sharing their findings and methods with our community of practice.”
“The pandemic has revealed major weaknesses in the social care data system. These problems made it harder for the country to respond to outbreaks and to support carers to provide care during the pandemic, and ultimately led to avoidable suffering for our most vulnerable people. ”
“We will support teams that can demonstrate the effective use of data analytics in social care, and that are prepared to share their learning with other social care analytics teams, including through the new community of practice that we are also launching. We will be looking for projects that involve people that need and use social care services and demonstrate a high degree of transparency, publishing their code as well as their findings so that these can be used across the system.”
The deadline for expressions of interest is midday, Friday 2nd October 2020.
