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Suppliers accredited for digital social care records purchasing framework

The NHSX Digitising Social Care Records Programme has launched its Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to support adult social care providers in England buy from an assured list of digital social care record solutions.

Two suppliers, Nourish and Aspirico, have been assured and appointed to the purchasing framework, with more suppliers to be appointed once through the assurance process.

The DPS has been designed to support social care and NHS organisations digitise social care records and hopes to speed-up the process by providing an assured list of suppliers. The Digital Social Care website highlights that 40% of social care registered providers use digital care planning, with 60% working from paper records.

Health and social care providers are required to identify their needs and develop a local level specification, before creating competition documentation to issue to approved suppliers. The providers then evaluate the responses and award a contract.

The accredited supplier list aims to create a marketplace where social care providers can be reassured the suppliers have met both functional requirements and standards. The suppliers appointed have been reviewed against national specifications, core solution capabilities and that the company financial position is stable.

The programme is aimed at all CQC registered adult social care providers to support and provide a digital social care record that can interoperate with a local Shared Care Record by 2024. The framework is set to run from April 2021 to November 2024.

Nuno Almeida, Founder at Nourish, commented: “Being listed on this DPS is a milestone that further confirms Nourish as a service with a deep knowledge of the context of care delivery, supporting care teams in a wide range of care settings, while enabling providers to have interoperability with their regional NHS partners. Our teams are immensely proud to be in a position to support the sector on this journey of digital transformation and integration, to ensure everyone receives the best possible care across whole social and healthcare systems.”

The programme forms part of the NHSX Data Strategy for Health and Social Care. For more information please visit the Digital Social Care website.