New website to fast-track digital transformation in adult social care
Digital Social Care is a new dedicated space to provide advice and support to the adult social care sector on technology and data protection. Run by social care providers for social care providers, Digital Social Care’s website launches at Health + Care on 27th June 2019.Digital Social Care is a partnership project between members of the Care Provider Alliance, (of which VODG is a member), Skills for Care and NHS Digital. Funded until March 2021, the project aims to support social care providers with technology, data protection and appropriate information sharing with health and local authority partners.There are 1.47 million people working in adult social care in England, working in approximately 25,000 services. Digital Social Care will be working to better understand the digital maturity of this important sector. This will be done by developing a self-assessment tool for social care employers to measure their organisation’s digital maturity.As well as supporting the uptake of existing national IT solutions such as the data security and protection toolkit and NHSmail, the project will develop a set of core requirements to support social care providers in choosing IT suppliers.
The organisations involved in Digital Social Care are Care England, National Care Association, National Care Forum, Registered Nursing Home Association, Skills for Care, United Kingdom Homecare Association and the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group.