For more than 10 years there has been unprecedented pressure placed on public services and local councils, which have faced rising demands along with an increase in customer expectations. At a time of substantial resource constraints, this pressure has been particularly felt in those services that offer support to older adults.
Councils are slowly responding to growing numbers of older people, often with complex needs, who require care and support, not care or support. The implementation of the Care Act 2014 resulted in the largest shake up of social care, where councils were required to extend the role they play and the services they offer. Local councils have had to transform the way their services are delivered.
Challenges exist that prevent local councils and service providers from offering service users 21st-century social care. Systems are not joined up, there are barriers to effective information sharing, and this is occurring alongside ongoing resource challenges, which hinder the sector as it attempts to adopt and adapt to newer ways of working. Health and care integration is still lacking, despite collaboration between organisations such as the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association and the Secretary of State for Health's change in portfolio responsibilities.
To realise the future vision for care as one where services are organised and delivered in order to get the best possible health and wellbeing outcomes for all citizens, regardless of age, and for all communities, will require further investment—human and financial.
Information and technology have the ability to transform the way services are designed around an individual, how they are commissioned and how they are delivered. A report published by the NHS Confederation (2016) called for a radical transformation of services. The vision was to plan the way for integration and transformation to happen faster and to go further so that integrated and person-centred care becomes the mainstream.
Reform is long overdue, social care is behind health when it comes to making use of available technology. It is acknowledged that a quick fix will not be the answer. In the interim, however, making more use of the technology that is available is essential as we wait for the bigger changes to be made. Making use of technology will free up staff to focus on care rather than administration.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has made integrating technology one of his priorities, with one of the aims of the Government's industrial strategy being to address the challenges of an ageing population through the use of technologies. People want to receive care in their own homes, but they also want to know that there is joined-up information and that the various systems that are essential to support care services are integrated. We need to build the system around this choice. We are currently failing here and, as a result, the oldest and most vulnerable in society and their carers too often bear the brunt of this—and COVID-19 is testament to this.
Investing in cutting-edge technology is key to not only improving the quality of care received by those people who need it, it can also save money in the long term. The Taxpayers Alliance (Haggard, 2018) noted that more and better automation of the NHS would lead to public sector savings.
If implemented in the right way and engaging those who use services and those who deliver them, technology has the real potential to be beneficial to adult social care. It can streamline communication between individuals and health professionals, improve and advance record management and enable people to receive care in their homes.
Propping up a failing system that offers people home care by relying on dwindling charitable funding is dangerous and unacceptable. Government funding that recognises the enormity of the task ahead is what is required.