Slough Borough Council
Rising to social care pressures with care technology
Without a change in approach, the increasing demand and complexity faced by adult social care teams will intensify, impacting the lives of those most in need of support.
One Council taking a different approach is Slough Borough Council. Together with our long-standing partner Hampshire County Council (HCC), we collaborated with Slough Borough Council to develop a blueprint to transform their approach to social care with care technology at its heart. With a new strategy to guide them, Slough Council can provide better outcomes for more people and better manage costs.
Reimagining social care through innovation
Councils in the UK are under immense financial pressure. More than half have warned that they may declare bankruptcy within the next five years. In parallel, one in six people today in the UK live with major illnesses. Balancing the demand for health and social care services with the urgent need to manage costs is no easy feat. Our joint State of the Sector Report showed that eight out of ten councils believe that the case for care technology has been proven in supporting better outcomes for people.
Many councils have an appetite to meet this challenge head-on by using care technology to create new sustainable models of care that offer a combination of reactive, preventative, and proactive care. Care technology offers solutions that are people-centred, and are focused on outcomes, not just equipment. With care technology, people can manage their own needs, helping them live normal lives, and stepping in when they need more support. Slough Borough Council recognised the potential of care technology, but their current approach wasn’t working; services were underutilised and offered only to a small proportion of people.
Like many other councils, translating our ambition to place care technology at the core of our approach to adult social care into action proved challenging. We recognised an opportunity to develop a blueprint that would build enthusiasm and motivation within our organisation to drive the necessary changes.”
Partnering to accelerate care technology outcomes
For the past 13 years, we have been transforming social care in the UK by leading the Argenti care technology partnership, our innovative approach to care technology, which gives advanced support to those in need 24 hours a day. Our partnership with Hampshire County Council (HCC), which has provided support to over 40,000 people and delivered net financial benefits exceeding £22 million, caught the attention of leaders at Slough Council.
To meet our bold ambition, we knew we needed a partner who could balance visionary thinking with practical know-how. PA and HCC are constantly raising the bar with care technology, so we were confident they could support us.”
Broadening the scope of care technology to reach more people
Working with Hampshire County Council (HCC), our team combined public sector, and care technology expertise alongside digital, data, organisational design, performance improvement, and innovation strategy skills to get to grips with the Council’s current challenges to find a clear path forward.
We supported the Council through a broad diagnostic exercise, reviewing its existing social care strategy and operations. We spoke to those working with care technology today and branched out into other areas where we saw opportunities for it to make an impact, including children’s care, younger adults, and mental health services.
From this diagnostic exercise, a number of opportunities emerged for the Council to unlock its potential for care technology. For example, shifting their approach to be truly user outcomes focused, rather than ‘kit’ focused. Another was removing barriers for care practitioners who didn’t feel confident in their knowledge of the technology itself but are experts in identifying the risks and outcomes that care technology can support.
Building a delivery model around user outcomes
We explored ways that Slough Council could rework its approach to care technology so that user outcomes were at its heart. Technology would then take on a different role, as a means to reduce, avoid, or delay traditional care forms, rather than as a reassuring add-on.
We identified ten key opportunity areas to guide the Council’s new approach – from transforming their referral pathways and defining governance structures, to building an ongoing approach to culture change. In working sessions, we delved into each area and developed an action plan with the Council.
Every step of the way, we worked alongside members of the team at Slough Council and HCC to identify key challenges, develop innovative solutions, and deliver a roadmap to seamless implementation.”
Delivering a strategy that ignited momentum
Together with Slough Borough Council, we defined a strategy that transforms the Council’s approach to Care Technology, creating a progressive service that was delivered at pace and scale so anyone who can benefit from Care Technology has the opportunity.
The strategy set out a plan for growing the service by 125 percent in the next five years, ensuring more people in Slough experience the benefits of care technology.
With a defined strategy in place, Slough Council can now deliver on its ambition – it has a solid pathway to achieve significant financial savings and double the number of people it can support over the next five years. Progress has already started and momentum has been ignited with the Council which now has a clear plan for turning their care technology ambition into action.
It was clear from day one that senior leaders in Slough had a genuine passion and a clear vision for the role they wanted care technology to play in improving people's lives. Embedding care technology at the heart of their approach to adult social care will dramatically improve the outcomes for those in need, providing better support, delivering a financial benefit to the Council, and fulfilling their ambition.”
Addressing change of this scale can feel insurmountable, but PA and HCC have not only given us a solid action plan to move forward with, they’ve also inspired us to think even bigger. If Slough can transform their approach to social care, then any council can.”
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