Funding win supports digital records to improve care for local residents

Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System’s Digitising Social Care (DiSC) programme has secured £7,500 of funding to research how to best support care homes for vulnerable residents to connect to Digital Social Care Records (DSCRs).

DSCRs are a way of securely allowing health and care professionals to see relevant information in someone’s health and care records to give them better, safer care. The DiSC team will use the funding – from NHS England for Department of Health and Social Care research – to work with Bedfordshire Care Group to ensure everyone has the chance to benefit from this digital tool.  Bedfordshire Care Group is an independent organisation, with of a team of experienced residential care home and domiciliary care owners, managers, and clinical nurses who will be delivering this work.

For this research project, the managers of three different care providers across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes will be interviewed to represent the needs of vulnerable adults who are elderly, have a learning disability, or have a mental health condition or other needs that make it harder for them to live on their own.

This research will help us to understand more about the DSCR implementation process, benefits for the carers and provider, sustainability, challenges, and opportunities. Their findings are to be submitted in May 2024.

Clare Steward, Digitising Social Care programme director, said:

“This research will play a crucial role in driving change and promoting equitable access to resources and opportunities for those care providers struggling to engage and embed technology to improve care. It will contribute to strengthening our knowledge base, insight, and expertise available to address current and future challenges.  We anticipate that this will lead to improved practice, contribute to development, and build capacity to support our small-to-medium size care providers.”

Patricia Coker, senior responsible officer for the Digitising Social Care programme, said:

“Collaborating with Bedfordshire Care Group offers numerous benefits and advantages that will enable us to conduct this research effectively and efficiently.  Their expertise, insights, resources, reach and credibility will be truly valuable as we seek to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and potential for supporting the care sector.”

Since 2020, the DiSC programme has introduced a number of technologies which are benefitting residents receiving care and the care market. They have supported 74% of care homes in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes to make the move DSCRs.

For more information about the Digitising Social Care programme, visit https://blmkhealthandcarepartnership.org/about/our-priorities/data-and-digital/digitising-social-care-disc-programme.