Presentation on the Informatics contribution in social care by Terry Dafter, Director of Adult Social Care Stockport at Metropolitan Borough Council and Chair of ADASS IMG. Presented at the Local-Central Discovery Day on the Impacts of the Care Act in Leeds on 29 July 2014.

1. Integration and the Care Act
The Informatics contribution in Social Care
Terry Dafter
Director Adult Social Care Stockport MBC
Chair of ADASS IMG
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2. The Care Act is part of a wider agenda
Must be seen in context
• Care Act – delivering the most
significant change in the legal
framework, funding and provision of
adult social care for over 50 years
• Integration – Better Care Fund and
Pioneers accelerating joint working
and new models of care. Technology
Fund supporting capacity building
across sector, with a focus on
interoperability.
• Personalisation – increasingly putting
the citizen at the heart of the system,
in control of their care and support
• Prevention – exploring ways to
reconfigure services to manage
increasing demand

3. The Informatics Challenge
Care Act in a Digital World
Current Position
• Systems designed with the provider/
commissioner in mind, not end-user
• Too many paper based processes in
health and social care
• Risk averse cultures leads to little
information shared between
professionals or systems
• Traditional market model, with small
number of suppliers focusing on
council back office systems
• Use of apps under-developed at a
time of innovation
Future Position
• User at the heart of the system, with
the same level of customer service/
interaction as in other areas of life
• ASC professionals and providers
embracing technology as a key part
of getting the job done
• A fully joined up information
ecosystem within health and care,
including other critical agencies
• Use of big data: effective prediction
(through analytics) and prevention
(pre-emptive interventions)
• Dynamic market, open to innovation

4. To deliver, we need to deal with national
problems to help build local solutions
Data
(e.g. NHS Number,
standards, open
APIs)
Information
Governance
(e.g. aligned IG Toolkits)
Networks
(e.g. PSN, N3)
Citizen focused health and care
Our ultimate objective is to
provide higher quality, more
joined up care to the service
user, and to support them in
taking greater control of
their health and care.
To achieve this, we need to
take action across a number
of different programmes to
agree common approaches.
These include:
• Being able to share
information securely
across networks
• Streamlining governance
toolkits
• Agreeing standards –
starting with NHS Number
• Promoting a more open
technology strategy (Open
APIs)

5. Current Issues
• Care Act is a challenge and an
opportunity
• Challenge of implementation
to tight timescales
• Longer term opportunities to
innovate and do things
differently
• Very different states of
readiness across the country:
– Events with suppliers
– Events in the regions
– Draft specifications out for
consultation
– End-to-end business process
being considered

6. Let’s be brave!
• We should head towards a world of:
– Fully automated business
processes
– User portals transacting online
– On-line assessments, reviews
and transactions
– On-line access to health and
social care record
– Joined up health and care
ecosystem including
independent sector transferring
data seamlessly
– User in charge of their data
– Wider use of bespoke apps to
encourage self-care
– Wider use of digital as part of the
care pathway