Technology is revolutionising our lives and we are now on the cusp of the next phase in the technology revolution. The move to digital and the advent of artificial intelligence, are going to have a huge impact on the care sector in the coming years. In light of fast-moving nature of technological development, It is important that we are on the front foot and able to harness this new technology for the benefit of people who use care and support services, and to improve safety and efficiency across the system.

Over the last few years, we have all got used to using portable technology and everybody seems to have a smart phone and this sort of technology, and our familiarity with how to use it, needs to be harnessed for the benefit of care and support services. What we need now, is easily accessible information-based technology, that really helps care staff to deliver the best possible care and have instant access to care records that are available with real-time information. If we get this right, what we will see in the future is technology enabling people to have instant access to information and create instant audit trails about real-time care interventions. This will also provide extremely useful data sets that can be used, for both the planning and development of services, and for an audit trail to regulators.

I am so excited by the future because I know that technology, particularly AI enabled equipment, is going to transform care and enable staff to have all the information that they require at their fingertips, so that they can deliver the best possible care to those they support. New systems that enable information to flow quickly to the practitioner, will also manage the challenges of staff turnover, and ensure that whoever is delivering care, will have easy access to the care plan and comprehensive information on a range of conditions and needs. This will enable care staff to manage people’s care in the most effective and safe way. The level of investment needed in these new systems is extremely good value and will deliver enormous benefits to the care provider. It will be the organisation’s that embrace this technology quickly that will steal a march on the rest of the sector and transform care and secure the future of their organisations.