Adult social care

Digital transformation brings huge opportunities for social care, empowering individuals to take control of their own health and care, promoting independence and supporting people to live in their homes and communities for longer.

Through the wholesale digitisation of the care sector, there is a real opportunity to break down the boundaries between the NHS and social care.

Our vision: Members of the public and their care teams will have access to timely, high quality data to improve care quality and inform choices about their care and support

This will ensure individuals only have to tell their story once, and that their care and support networks are coordinated around them to provide personalised care

As an adult social care professional, I will:

• have access to information about the needs of those I support and the care they have received across the system, so I can provide seamless person-centred support
• have operational and client-level data to support proactive care, smoother transitions between NHS services and social care, and to plan and oversee future services
• have the confidence and capability to use the most appropriate technology to collect better data to improve care, understand the public’s needs, and plan, commission and improve services
• be able to easily and securely record and access information about those in my care, making the best use of new technology

As someone providing unpaid care, I will:

• have access to comprehensive and up to date individual care information, through a digital social care record that helps me to understand that person’s preferences and care needs
• have access to user-friendly and up-to-date information about local services that will provide respite care and support for me
• if I choose, my own care and health information will include that I care for someone, making it easier for me to have conversations about the support I need

Key commitments to achieve this include:

• the development, in collaboration with Skills for Care, of a digital skills framework that will support the improvement of the digital capabilities of everyone working in the adult social care sector (phase one completed March 2022), supported by the delivery of an inclusive approach to training opportunities to improve the data and digital-literacy of the adult social care workforce (commenced from April 2022)
• the assurance that at least 80% of social care providers have a digitised care record in place that can be connected to a shared care record and we will reinforce the use of the NHS number universally across adult social care to support this (March 2024).