The Digital Social Care Programmes and Care Inspectorate partner, Nicky Cronin, provides a vital link into improving outcomes for individuals in home or community setting through the application of technology.
For more in-depth information on the following projects please visit the Care Inspectorate Hub here:
Their current focus is on:
PainChek
Key Objectives:
- To demonstrate the value that using a pain monitoring App, which uses automated facial analysis supported by artificial intelligence, can have to individuals who are not able to verbalise the extent of their level of pain.
- Monitor improvements through the use of the app by staff, quality of life indicators and changes to medicines prescribed and used.
- To take learning from the phase 1 test and upscale into phase 2. In phase 2 we will increase the number of services and trial the use of PainChek in a wider range of social care settings.
- Support national learning for future developments in pain assessment technology.
Latest update:
Phase 1 is now complete. These results are being summarised and shared with relevant teams. Phase 2 is underway with seven services on board, five of which are live. The team have been providing face to face support in the early stages to help services embed the changes to practice. Analyses of data from the services which are coming to an end of their trial began in July '24, and results so far have been very encouraging. For services who are not measuring the standard metrics, there will be case studies and a record of detail for where PainChek has been used to support improved outcomes. A further call for interested participants to take part in this trial was sent to all adult social care providers in Scotland, with a closing date of September 24th 2024, services will then be onboarded over Autumn/Winter 2024.
Supporting Digital Technology in Social Care through Scrutiny and Improvement
Key Objectives:
To support the use of digital technology in social care through scrutiny and improvement practice and the care inspectorate. This will be achieved through a number of initiatives which will be reported under this workstream.
Latest update:
Care Inspectorate Annual return analysis
We developed range of digital technology questions for the Care Inspectorate’s annual return request to all registered services. There was a significant response, and a detailed analysis was provided by the Care Inspectorate’s intelligence team. This will inform both Scottish government and the Care Inspectorate about digital maturity, strategic planning, and next steps in terms of improvement support work for the Care Inspectorate.
In August 2024 a new analysis of the TEC questions for 2023 was produced and will be used to draw comparisons and highlight areas of progress, and areas for improvement in the report. This analysis was shared with Scottish Government Policy to support their understanding of how technology is being used in the social care sector.
This year the Senior Improvement Advisor will report on the findings to provide important context for the Care Inspectorate and partners. The report will support other digital maturity monitoring workstreams as highlighted in priority four as set out in Care in the Digital Age Delivery Plan 23-24.
Professional Development Award (PDA) in Scrutiny and improvement practice (SCQF 10 for SSSC registration)
This is a mandatory qualification for all inspectors. We are working with PDA delivery team to enhance the digital content of the course. This includes digital for scrutiny activity (virtual inspection elements, digital information exchange etc) and to develop inspector confidence in digital conversations and evaluating care providers use of technology to support outcomes for people.
Improvement Project – Increasing involvement of children and young people in regulated care inspections (using technology)
Aligned to the Care Inspectorate’s Promise workstream 1, the overall aim of this project is to improve how involved and informed children and young people feel in our inspection feedback process. To achieve this, we tested feedback to children and young people post inspection. This involved both face-to-face and video methods of feedback.
The project is led by the Senior Improvement Advisor and involves four inspectors form the Children and Young People (CYP) team, young inspection volunteers, the methodology team, scrutiny teams and the communications team.
With stage two reaching its conclusion we have tested feedback post inspection to a number of services, with the findings and recommendations being available to present in due course.
Self-evaluation TEC toolkit for care providers.
A first draft has been developed in collaboration with Scottish Government, Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES), and is currently out for consultation across relevant teams. This will accompany the TEC Good practice guidance published March 23, and compliment a range of self-evaluation toolkits already published by the Care Inspectorate. Following an initial consultation period the toolkit will be available for external consultation through the Care Inspectorate's participation platform.
TEC Good Practice Guide
"Using technology and digital devices to make a positive impact on health and wellbeing for people experiencing care" Practice guide. Designed as a general good practice guide and applicable to all service types across early learning and childcare, children and young people and adult services. Now published and available here