There is now 1 year to go before the March 2024 digital deadline.
What is the deadline?
By March 2024, the Department of Health & Social Care aims for all (but at least 80%) of care providers to be using a digital social care records platform such as Nourish. This deadline is the first marker of progress for the long-term digital transformation of the whole sector, as set out in their ‘Plan for digital health and social care’ and the vision for a digitally enabled health and social care system.
The deadline exists to ensure that health and social care is sustainable in the long term and digital transformation for care providers is the logical first step. The deadline also serves to ensure that the advancements in digital health and social care made during the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Why is it important?
The deadline is important, not just because it has been set by the government and there is funding available to support the transition to digital, but because it marks a new era for health and social care. This new era will enable the sharing of information between services for faster and more personalised care. This will allow connectivity among social care tech software to build an ecosystem of care that centers around the person being supported, giving a better oversight into their care needs.
The future of social care
Technology is used in almost every aspect of our lives and the advancements of technology in health and social care has the potential to reduce healthcare inequalities and improve quality of life. The future of health and social care will become reliant on the use of technology as part of the long-term digital transformation of the whole sector. Technology can enable care providers to share critical information about a cared for person with healthcare providers so that people receive the right care at the right time.
The long-term sustainability of health and social care is dependent on the adoption of technology. The utilisation of digital systems in the care sector has unlimited potential. Some examples of this could include supporting system-wide population health management and intelligence-led personalised care packages. Digital innovation can also impact the individual by keeping them at home for long-term condition monitoring and provide greater levels of independence through in-home sensors and communication tools.
This long-term goal is achievable by care services adopting technology that is beneficial for their care service. Nourish has a wealth of ecosystem and integration partnerships in a number of key areas such as sensor-based falls prevention, eMAR, eRostering, incident management and nurse call systems. It is a vital part of Nourish’s ethos that our system is highly interoperable, meaning that you can choose technology add-ons that best suit your service, but we also provide a curated list of partner technologies so that you don’t have to scan the market.
What to do next?
To make sure you meet the March 2024 digital deadline, reach out to your local ICB today to find out what funding is available in your local area and start thinking about the type of platform you require for your service.
