Decision details

TECHNOLOGY ENABLED CARE AND HOMES (TECH)

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

  1. That Cabinet notes progress made to date to review current pilot technologies.
  2. That Cabinet notes benchmarking and profiling of our service, including our need to improve outcomes tracking and benefits realisation approaches.
  3. That Cabinet agrees our strategic ambition for developing technology enabled care and homes (TECH).
  4. That Cabinet approves our commissioning and procurement approach
  5. That Cabinet approves our priority areas and phasing of technology roll out to support staff with culture growth and technology adoption.
  6. That Cabinet agrees the financial investment required for first 2 years of delivery.
  7. That Cabinet notes the intention to return to Cabinet in 2026 to set out 5 to 10-year strategic delivery plan and strategy.

 

Reasons for decisions:

 

Whilst benefits have already been achieved through our current TECH offer in Surrey, there is considerable opportunity for greater growth and benefits realisation. This paper sets out a more ambitious delivery model with clear commissioning and procurement approaches that maximise opportunity and reduce risk to the Council.

 

Our recent review of the current offer has highlighted some key focus areas. We must improve our internal processes and enable easier identification of TECH solutions. We must also improve our systems and outcomes tracking if we are to be able to demonstrate TECH benefits more quickly and clearly.

 

Our strategic ambition is to embed TECH as a core part of social care delivery. By demonstrating outcomes more clearly, we will be better placed to identify future investment from partners to grow our offer and align with other TECH, AI and digital programmes. We will also develop a strong self-funder and front door offer for residents.

 

With no new funding we must target our core delivery of TECH to the areas of highest need and greatest impact. Prioritisation will therefore be based upon corporate transformation, demand management and high-cost areas.

 

Prioritisation is also key to ensuring staff can be supported to embed the culture growth required to see TECH succeed. Members shared that they felt TECH would fail if it was to be used everywhere, with all staff from the start. A recent review demonstrated staff knowledge and confidence was generally low across the organisation and varied considerably from team to team across Surrey. Positively, the majority of staff spoken to so far seem excited about TECH and want to engage so we must use this interest to progress.

 

The Contract Management Advisory Service (CMAS) were asked to support the TECH team to assess the options for the provision of TECH in Surrey. Commissioning, operations, IT&D, finance and the TECH team were involved in the process. Three options, detailed later in this paper, were explored with one preferred and recommended to help further our ambition.

 

Given the above we intend to outsource a core commissioned service for a minimum of two years. This will allow us to gather more robust data and evidence to develop a better offer for TECH with greater evidence of staff learning and engagement. The recommendation for a longer-term strategy is based upon national comparators and benefits realisation timeframes.

 

(The decisions on this item can be call-in by the Adults and Health Select Committee)

 

 

Publication date: 29/01/2025

Date of decision: 28/01/2025

Decided at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Effective from: 06/02/2025

Accompanying Documents: