Next up, the finalists in the category of Best Use of Digital for Social Care.
Durham County Council
Overview: RITA is a touch screen solution which offers digital reminiscence therapy using interactive screens and tablets. The use of RITA in 64 County Durham care homes is an excellent example of how technology has been implemented to enrich people’s lives and improve enhanced services to the people of County Durham.
Why? Durham County Council has a vision to digitally improve its services, support its people, communities, and organisations to deliver better outcomes for the people of the county.
What happened? RITA was initially introduced into 12 care homes across the County Durham as part of a partnership approach with key partners such as the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, in response to the Adult Social Care Reform White Paper (People at the Heart of Care). Although this was initially introduced into 12 care homes, the positive effects of this technology were quickly recognised, and additional funding was secured to roll out RITA to a further 64 care homes. The data gathered showed 100 percent of respondents stated that RITA had created a better or much better calmer environment and improved wellbeing, whilst 96 percent stated that RITA had improved mental health and wellbeing. 68 percent of respondents stated that incidences of challenging behaviours had reduced, and 61 percent of respondents stated that RITA had helped to reduce incidences of and improved the management of falls. The digital skills of care staff have also been improved, which is links directly to the digital ambition of improving digital skills across the county.
Looking ahead. The use of RITA really is an excellent example of how digital technology has been implemented across the county to enrich people’s lives and improve enhanced services to the people of County Durham.
Health Innovation Manchester
Overview: 37 care homes in Greater Manchester reduce ambulance call outs by 20 percent in 12 months with deterioration management and falls prevention app.
Why? The initiative in Bury aimed to improve deterioration intervention and falls prevention for Bury care home residents through the deployment of a digital deterioration tracker (RESTORE2 and RESTORE2 Mini) and multifactorial falls prevention tool within one Safesteps app in 70 percent of care homes in the locality.
What happened? This collaboration involved the Bury Integrated Delivery Collaborative, primary care, care homes, the local authority, SafeSteps and Health Innovation Manchester (HInM). Bury deployed the SafeSteps initiative to 37 care homes and performance against targets demonstrated a significant reduction in emergency responses. Data showed a 9.97 percent decrease in NWAS Hear and Treat, a 19.87 percent decrease in NWAS See and Treat, and a 1.48 percent decrease in NWAS See and Convey from January to March 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. With 23 fewer hospital conveyances and hospital stays in Jan-Mar 24 vs Jan-Mar 23, the project saved approximately £5,175 in ambulance conveyance and £105,800 in inpatient stays in this three month period alone. By using the SafeSteps dashboard, GPs can triage residents before arrival, allowing them to prioritise and attend to the most in-need patients first. To date, 898 care home residents have received 6083 fall preventions screenings, and 252 RESTORE2 and RESTORE2 mini screenings have been shared with GPs through SafeSteps app.
Looking ahead. Future plans to integrate SafeSteps with the Greater Manchester Care Record will ensure a unified approach to patient deterioration management and falls prevention across care homes in Greater Manchester.
Quality Compliance Systems (QCS)
Overview: QCS seeks to help those who care to focus on caring by ensuring compliance is taken care of every day, every hour and every minute.
Why? Non-compliance could lead to failed inspections, unwanted fines, and in the worst case scenarios, could even lead to business closure.
What happened? QCS’s Compliance Centre is the home to policies, procedures, and compliance toolkits designed to help businesses to keep up with changes to legislation, regulation, and best practice – whatever happens. QCS Quality Centre is a go-to place for customers when it comes to managing assessments and actions for success. It includes an online audit tool and digital mock inspections, both available with no set-up fees. Conduct audits on desktop or mobile, pre-scheduled or ad-hoc, with reminders for when they are due; capture findings; build action plans; and track progress easily. Digital mock inspections are saved in one place for evidence and insight into how they would rate. Dashboards and reports provide management oversight on business performance, enabling customers care service to run at its best in preparation for regulatory inspections. Finally, the QCS Dementia Centre allows customers to deliver and evidence better dementia care, driven by evidence-based tools, digital PAL assessment, best practice, and practical guidance on how to deliver quality dementia care.
Looking ahead. QCS plans to continue to help its customers manage the demands of compliance.
Alternative Futures Group
Overview: From robotic pets to VR: AFG’s Tech Lending Library boosts independence and enhances lives.
Why? In 2023, AFG launched a ‘Tech Lending Library’ to give the people it supports the opportunity to trial technological items to understand if they can support independence.
What happened? A project group was formed across the business development, IT, operational and marketing teams. The group created all processes around the library, which included developing a robust internal booking system, organising purchasing and storage of the items, promoting the project across the organisation, and dealing with any arising issues. A key challenge was developing a system that would be accessible to operational colleagues who are busy on shift, as well as the people they support. The team ensured this was possible by setting up a simple online booking system using Sharepoint, as well as the option of a physical booklet that could be used in properties. The team then held a launch day ‘lunch and learn’ session for all colleagues, alongside a targeted communications campaign aimed at support workers to promote the library, which has garnered a huge amount of interest in the library. Within a six-month period from launch, over 70 people supported by AFG have borrowed a technological item – from robotic pets improving the mood of people with Alzheimer’s, to smartwatches resulting in people achieving daily step targets and losing weight.
Looking ahead. AFG hopes to continue to achieve positive results with the help of its Tech Lending Library.
Next up: browse entries for the category of Best Use of Digital for Community Care here.
