Home / Resources & Guidance / Government announces plans to digitalise Social Care by 2024

by Ric Thompson, Managing Director – Health & Care

The Health and Care Secretary Sajid Javid has recently announced a focus on widespread digitalisation of the NHS.

As part of this plan, there will be specific attention placed towards digitalising almost all Social Care by 2024. During his speech at the HSJ Digital Transformation Summit on 24th February, Sajid Javid commented; “I also want to see a particular focus on Social Care‚Ķ We have announced at least ¬£150 million to help drive digitisation in Social Care, and a target of 80% of Social Care providers to have digital Social Care records by March 2024.”

Demand for Social Care has risen in recent years as stated by The King’s Fund, due to an increase of those with long-term conditions, mental health needs and more older people requiring home care. Having digitalised systems for Social Care creates an opportunity to improve the efficiency of the care process. This precious time saved between clients can allow for more effective care to be provided whilst supporting their individual preferences.

According to NHS Digital, publicly funded long-term Adult Social Care has increased by 2,715 users in 2020/21 to 841,245.[i] Having this increasing demand highlights the challenges already faced by Social Care providers to deliver tailored support to their clients. Tackling the mass of admin tasks whilst ensuring compassionate care is given can put care providers under immense pressure, particularly now the workload is increasing.

Commenting further, Sajid Javid also stated; “‚Ķ around 40% of providers are still grappling entirely with paper-based records. I want all Social Care providers to adopt a digital record for Social Care.”

By using digital systems to help streamline the processes used in Social Care, organisations can avoid labour intensive paper-based tasks. This could include manually monitoring individual cases, transferring notes from paper to online systems once providers are back in the office and processing time-consuming reports.

Staffplan is the Advanced solution for Social Care to digitalise processes and enhance efficiency.

Designed to eradicate the out-dated paper processes, Staffplan is an innovative rostering system which automatically fits the availability of the care provider to the requirements of the client, using mobile access to keep staff connected and real time records updated.

Ric Thompson Managing Director – Health & Care at Advanced, says “Staffplan is an asset to our customers, allowing them to effectively roster their staff to provide care in the best way they can. It makes me proud to hear about the help we provide to streamline their processes, saving them valuable time and resources. I continue to look forward to the future of digital solutions in Social Care.”

What does Staffplan do?

  • Manage, record, and analyse data to allow staff to focus on providing the best care possible.
  • Electronic timesheets allow invoices to be completed automatically.
  • Instant notifications when care visits begin, end or when staff’s safety needs reporting.
  • Remote working allows care providers to manage visits via smart devices.
  • Integrated with Advanced’s own Finance and Human Capital Management solutions as well as PASS and Birdie.

Find out more about Staffplan and how digital rostering can benefit your organisation by following https://www.oneadvanced.com/solutions/staffplan/

[i] https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-social-care-activity-and-finance-report/2020-21