David Lynes, CEO & Founder of Unique IQ
Being the CEO of a software company, it might surprise you to hear me ask the question “is technology always the answer?”.
There is an enormous push towards digitisation within the care sector right now. That’s nothing new of course. For several years we’ve seen a move in the care sector towards digital transformation. The Care Quality Commission set out its positive take on technology in care back in 2019. And then of course there was the pandemic – which vastly accelerated digitisation and experimentations with new ways of working.
But this push is now mainly coming from central government. It has a target of 80% of all social care providers to have a digital social care record that can interoperate with a local Shared Care Record by March 2024. As of January 2023, the Homecare Association estimated this figure to be at 52% within domiciliary care. For comparison, in 2020, around a third of social care organisations were reliant solely on paper, with another third using a mix of paper-based and digital systems, according to research from NHSX (now the NHS Transformation Directorate).
The push comes against a backdrop of already squeezed care organisations. The pressures that care providers are facing right now are innumerable – high vacancy rates, high levels of sickness absence, high prevalence of burnout, rising costs, waning budgets, regulatory changes, policy U-turns, plus an ever-increasing demand for care. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the government has already changed its digitisation target at least once, originally stating that 90% of care organisations needed a digital record by the end of 2023.
Which takes me back to my original question – is technology always the answer? Against this extremely challenging backdrop for care organisations, the answer must absolutely not be ‘technology for technology’s sake’. That approach presents a grave danger of repeating the mistakes of our old paper-based systems.
Ill thought-out software projects can lead to replicating the filing cabinets and document transportation of old in a new digital format. In the new digital world, much of the information we collect is still siloed. Locked-in systems, sometimes multiple systems from multiple providers, that don’t talk to one another. So instead of rifling through sheets of paper, care managers are trying their best to download data, cross reference pdfs and pull together reports that don’t necessarily make sense. The story of a person’s care can still end up being incomplete, leaving them at risk from errors and oversights. Or it might fall apart altogether. Which is when the system fails them.
So it’s my view that as software providers we have a duty towards steering the care companies we interact with towards the most suitable system for them. That might mean scaling our plans back. It might mean that we need to invest some time in adapting a part of our system. It might even mean wishing them well as they go elsewhere.
To help with the process, we recently produced a guide and workbook for care providers. ‘Implementing care software’ takes the reader on a step-by-step journey through key project milestones – from building a business case, to searching for well-matched software providers, to evaluating options, and finally rolling out a new system.
The guide features practical exercises which are founded in tried and tested project management methodologies, to offer support particularly to care organisations that might not have access to a dedicated IT or procurement team.
A copy of ‘Implementing care software’ can be downloaded for free from: https://www.uniqueiq.co.uk/implementing-care-software/
It’s also worth remembering that there is lots of guidance out there to help with digitisation. Digital Social Care is a great place to start – with a wealth of information and training available. Skills for Care also has lots of resources, including a Digital Readiness Tool.
In summary, technology can often be the answer. But make sure it’s the right technology for you.