New analysis published by the County Councils Network (CCN) and Tunstall Healthcare calls for the government’s anticipated reforms of social care to create the right conditions to make assistive technology mainstream in adult social care services

Employing Assistive Technology in Adult Social Care looks at the prevalence of assistive technology (AT) in county authorities and what can be done to both scale it up across whole social care systems, as well as maximise its benefits to people using care and the professionals who support them.  You can download a copy of the report here.

AT enables patients and clinicians to work together to monitor health remotely. Both systems enable care to be more targeted and preventative, and empower people to remain independent and well. 

The report finds that whilst this tech has been effectively used to improve care for individuals, much more can be done to place AT at the centre of local adult social care – from using data, to aligning health and care monitoring systems together -  as part of closer integration between health and social care.

The research reveals that:

• over two-thirds (69%) of county authorities surveyed believe that AT is more difficult to roll out in rural areas compared to urban locations;
• three-quarters of respondents said that the benefits of AT were being at least partially realised in their authorities, but a lack of funding and overlapping local health system boundaries were holding their authorities back.

As a result, the report recommends that as part of the forthcoming reform of adult social care, the government should commit to a National Strategic Framework to make AT ‘mainstreamed’ as a key element of social care in the future, and make it clear how tech can be further embedded into councils’ delivery of this service.

CCN and Tunstall are also calling on the government to ensure that there is effective infrastructure for AT in rural areas, including broadband and improved mobile network speeds.

The report also recommends that councils should have parity of esteem with health partners in Integrated Care Systems, to assist in an effective and joined up rollout of large-scale AT across both health and care, and these bodies should keep within council boundaries as much as possible to reduce inefficiency.

CCN is the national voice for England’s county councils, representing 23 county councils and 13 county authorities. Collectively, they represent 25 million people, or 47% of the country’s population.
Tunstall Healthcare provides technological solutions to support those requiring care and health intervention to live independently in their chosen home setting.