Adult social care is under pressure, experiencing high demands and limited resources, which have been deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Technologies have considerable potential to help address the challenges experienced in services such as care homes, domiciliary care, and day centres.
They may play important roles such as:
- Improving the quality of experience for people using the services and care staff.
- Increasing well-being and promoting independence.
- Improving systems and care delivery through better organisation, recording and monitoring.
- Enabling staff and care recipients to contact professionals, families, and friends remotely.
- Enabling staff to spend more time with care recipients and less time on paperwork.
However, despite these potential benefits, social care providers may be unaware of the available technologies, may have poor digital infrastructures (including poor Wi-Fi coverage and staff skills), and there is little evidence about how technologies are being used in practice.
There is therefore a need to ensure that care services have access to the technologies that meet their needs, alongside robust research to establish an evidence base for the implementation and efficacy of technologies.
