The programme has been made possible following the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) Integrated Care System’s Digitising Social Care (DiSC) team successfully securing £1.1 million of funding from NHS England’s Adult Social Care Technology Fund. It will be delivered in partnership with Health Innovation East and the University of Hertfordshire.
The rate of dementia diagnosis in BLMK is higher than the national average and the condition is associated with increased hospital stays, mental health issues, undiagnosed pain, behavioural challenges, and increased safeguarding risks.
Our Enhanced Wellbeing through Digital programme will offer technology to support adults to live independently, reduce avoidable hospital admissions / re-admissions, and improve care quality and safety.
Our digitising social care programme is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and is being delivered through NHS England’s Digital Policy Unit. The three-year programme, which commenced in April 2022, is focused on delivering the government’s commitments to support the digital transformation of the adult social care sector which were set out in the 2021 white paper, People at the Heart of Care.
The funding will be used to implement two new innovations which can be used by care home and domiciliary care staff who work with adults living with or experiencing behaviour that challenges, cognitive impairment, communication difficulty or dementia in a variety of care settings. Read more about this funding.
A team of researchers (supported by the Applied Research Collaboration East of England and the Office of Health Economics) will evaluate the acceptability, usability, cost-effectiveness and impacts as the schemes are implemented and adopted – to inform the development of an evidence-based plan for scale and spread across BLMK ICS.
PainChek™
Helping to identify and manage pain for those who are unable to communicate it verbally
RoboPets
Providing comfort and companionship with a robotic pet
You can find out more about what we’re doing by clicking on each of the links below. For more information on the programme, or any of our projects, please email the team.