Only a handful of councils are making full use of digital technology to provide personalised care in people’s homes, according to an umbrella group of organisations.
TEC Action Alliance says it has found only isolated examples of technology use and little evidence of integration within the broader social care and health system.
The group’s report, Technology-Enabled Lives: Delivering Outcomes for People and Providers, was based on evidence from more than 2,000 people who use care services and frontline workers and leaders in care, health, housing and local government.
Only 18% of respondents currently use telecare or telehealth services and half of these people use it less than once a week, according to the survey the report is based on.
It says digital social care services reduce ambulance trips to A&E by 68%, help 85% of people remain at home if emergency calls are handled by TEC responder teams and cut emergency response times to 30 minutes.
The report calls on care commissioners and suppliers to listen to what people want and produce their services and products with individuals to focus more on personal needs.
The group’s co-chair Alyson Scurfield said: ‘At a time of immense pressure on NHS and social care services, digital care services can put power in the hands of people, helping them to self-manage their own health and live the life they want to lead.
‘We’ve found some pockets of good technology-enabled care but still no national adoption.
‘To address this, we must understand how technology-enabled care can be better personalised and scaled.’
