11 Feb Local digital adult social care projects awarded share of £4.5m
Sixteen organisations that provide and commission adult social care services are to receive a share of £4.5m to enable them to roll out their local digital projects on a wider scale.
The organisations have been selected to receive a Social Care Digital Pathfinders grant, which supports products and services that have already been piloted in small local areas – with the view to implementing them on a larger scale.
The successful Digital Pathfinders will now commence a 13-month implementation phase with projects predominantly looking at standardising information and developing digital ways of sharing that information between multiple health and care organisations.
The investment is managed by NHS Digital2 as part of the NHS’ Digital Transformation Portfolio and supports the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock’s vision for interoperability and openness, open standards and appropriate infrastructure.
Health Minister Nicola Blackwood said: “Bridging the technology gap between the NHS and social care is a central part of achieving a health and care service that is fit for the future. This £4.5 million investment will support local areas to improve information sharing across services, ensuring people avoid hospital unless absolutely necessary and helping everyone live independently for longer.”
Examples of the pathfinder projects to be provided with the funding are:
* South Gloucestershire Council and London Borough of Sutton, who are both working to recognise care homes as Partners in Care by developing the ‘digital red bag’.
This involves providing care homes with access to the existing Local Health and Care Record (LHCR) portals (Connecting Care and Health Information Exchange respectively), which allow information to be shared across GPs, hospitals and other local organisations to support continuity of care. This new initiative will mean that care homes can also view and update those records.
The two projects are also collaborating closely with the aim of developing red bag standards and a blueprint for deployment which could be rolled out nationally.
