We recently wrote about the White Paper ‘People at the Heart of Care’, which announced at least £150m to drive digitisation across the adult social care sector to improve the quality, safety and personalisation of care.
Further to this, a ‘Digitising Social Care’ programme has been launched. This is part of a joint Department of Health & Social Care and NHS England Improvement unit within the NHS Transformation Directorate. The programme is supported by Skills for Care and a draft Digital Skills Framework has recently been published as part of this.
The Framework covers seven key themes for effective digital working and can help people working in adult social care to develop their digital skills.
The seven key themes are:
The Framework was developed using input from organisations across the social care sector. The final version is set to be published in October 2022.
At Social Care TV we believe in harnessing the power of technology and innovation within the Social Care sector. In fact we were early adopters of e-Learning technology when we launched back in 2008 and we are fully supportive of this initiative and of the Framework itself.
Currently approximately 30% of social care providers are partially digitised, with a further 30% still using entirely paper-based systems.
We agree with the Government’s directive in that digital transformation can ‘dramatically improve the quality and safety of care with real time data being shared across the NHS and social care. This ensures people receive the right care, at the right time, and the right people have access to the information they need.’
The framework was developed in response to a recommendation of the Technology and Digital Skills Review for an improved definition of the digital skills needed by the adult social care workforce.
Alongside this, a set of Digital Skills Training resources has also been published to help support staff in their learning and development. Digital skills training relevant to social care can now be accessed in one place, and more training will be added in the future.
Strong digital foundations are a platform for long-term transformation and, at Social Care TV, we are very pleased to see the action now taking place to achieve this.
In social care, the Government’s aim is for 80% of Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers to have digital social care records by March 2024. Success will allow frontline health and social care staff to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time delivering personalised care.
We believe that the Digital Skills Framework is an important step on this much needed journey of transformation.
12th July 2022
On May 12th 2022, the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism was signed into law with royal assent as part of the Government’s Health and Social Care Act 2022.
13th April 2022
The white paper – ‘People at the Heart of Care’ sets out an ambitious 10 year vision for how the government will transform support and care in England.
11th March 2022
At Social Care TV, were thrilled with the recent ‘Made for Care’ government recruitment initiative.