Social care software suppliers are providing a good spread of solutions for adult care but fewer for children’s care, according to the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI).
It has highlighted the point in publishing the results of a survey on the sector that attracted more than 60 responses from UK based social care providers.
The organisation – which has the majority of London boroughs as members and is backed by the London Councils group – has also published an online database with details of 61 companies in the field.
Among the headlines of its survey – carried out by CC2i – is that the largest number of solutions are in adult social care, accounting for 41% of the total, followed by early intervention and support for adults with 12.8%.
But it shows that solutions to support early intervention and support for children, special needs education and youth offending are in shorter supply, with percentages in low single figures.
There is a more even distribution of the type of solution, with most of the eight categories accounting for more than 10% of the total. The largest is for information sharing and co-ordination at 25.6%, followed by asset management at 15.4% and self-service solutions at 12.8%.
Progress to deployment
“A real positive from the survey submissions in terms of further investigating and evidencing the digital solutions on offer is that 52 of them (from more than 60) have already been, or are in the process of being deployed,” the report survey says. It adds that 65% have been developed in line with the Government Digital Service Standard.
It also says that two-thirds of the solutions are focused on the social care workforce and one-third developed for people and patients.
The report refers to plans for a ‘cap and meter’ approach to social care to come into effect in two years, under which each person will pay a maximum of £100,000 for care across their lifetime. There has been talk of a minimum viable product of a ‘ready reckoner’ being available to support this, but councils may have to develop their own.
LOTI said the database on social care innovators includes specific information on how solutions can support integrated care systems, support the digital switchover, pricing models, how they address the Health and Care Bill and evidence of benefits.
It has also recommended the staging of a series of showcases on solutions for particular social care areas for London boroughs. These would cover digital social care, assistive technology, career recruitment and retention and care home tech.
