Success Measure
Your organisation has modern and secure digital infrastructure, and staff have reliable access to comprehensive and up-to-date digital records.
Overview
Ensuring smart foundations is essential when it comes to digital transformation. Building from a strong base is so important. Below, we talk through a number of steps that can be taken to form the foundations of your digital transformation journey.
When using digital solutions to improve the quality and outcomes of people’s care, access to secure connectivity, the right technology and the right digital and data processes are fundamental. By considering factors including size, geography, demography and capability, you ensure your organisation is well-prepared digitally to help improve outcomes for people who draw on care and the staff delivering care and support.
Beyond this, guaranteeing Information is securely communicated between and across health and social care settings by using a secure email platform to support integrated and joined up approaches to care is also essential.
Finally, it is ensuring care workers have access to critical information about an individual person, through a single Digital Social Care Record (DSCR), means they have the right information at their disposable – an enormous asset when providing the best possible care. Investing in appropriate digital systems so that accurate information is readily available to support person-centred care is also a core part of ensuring smart foundations.
Resources
- Setting up your internet - Digitising Social Care
- Guidance on the different forms of internet connectivity and advice on what would be best for your setting.
- Using mobiles and tablets - Digitising Social Care
- How to decide whether to let staff use their own phones for work (bring your own device) or to provide company phones. This guidance also covers what policies and security settings you should have in place.
- Setting up and using secure mail - Digitising Social Care
- A guide to what is meant by "secure mail" and how to access it.
- The secure email standard - NHS England
- Emails sent to and from health and social care organisations must meet the secure email standard (DCB1596) so that everyone can be sure that sensitive and confidential information is kept secure. This page includes information about the full standard and how to meet it.
- Cloud Security Guidance - National Cyber Security Centre
- If you want to store and process data in the cloud, or use cloud platforms to build and host your own services, this guidance will help you do so securely. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides a single point of contact for SMEs, larger organisations, government agencies, the general public and departments on cyber security.
- Data Protection and Cyber Security Guidance for Care Providers - Digital Care Hub
- Care providers need to store and share information securely – on paper and digitally. Digital Care Hub provide a range of free guidance, tools and advice services to help you to understand and improve your data protection and cyber security arrangements.
- Better Security, Better Care - Digital Care Hub
- Better Security, Better Care is the national and local support programme to help adult social care providers to store and share information safely. It covers paper and digital records and focuses on helping care providers to complete the Data Security and Protection Toolkit – the annual, online self-assessment. Get free one-to-one support in your local area.
- The Assured Solutions List - Digitising Social Care
- The assured solutions list is a list of digital social care records (DSCRs) solutions that have been assured by NHS England. DSCR solutions are assured in line with the DSCR Capability Assessment and Standards Assurance Process.
- Data Standards for Social Care - Digitising Social Care
- Explore the Adult Social Care (ASC) Terminology Data Catalogue and find out more about the Minimum Operational Data Standard (MODS) and Reporting Minimum Data Specification (RMDS).
- Digital record systems: achieving good outcomes for people using adult social care services - CQC
- Guidance from the CQC on what they expect good digital record keeping to look like.
- Telecare stakeholder plan: analogue to digital switchover, August 2023 - Department of Health and Social Care
- An update on actions in the government plan for working with the telecare and telecommunications sectors in transitioning from analogue to digital networks.
- Digital Shift - TSA
- Guidance and advice on what to do about the analogue to digital switchover.
- Records Management: Abbreviated retention schedule for Adult Social Care providers - Digital Care Hub
- The Records Management Code of Practice provides guidance on how to keep records, including how long to keep different types of records. This abbreviated code and guidance for adult social care providers is based on based on Records Management Code of Practice – A guide to the management of health and care records, published August 2021, last updated December 2023. This abbreviated code was published in 2024.
- The Digital Skills Training Database - Digitising Social Care
- A database of different digital skills training mapped to the Digital Skills Framework.
- Data Security and Protection: Staff - Digital Care Hub
- This free elearning course is for all staff working in adult social care services in England. Care providers can use this course to improve and assess their staff’s knowledge of data protection and cyber security – including their individual responsibility to keep information safe. The course meets the training requirements within the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT).
- Data Security and Protection: Leads - Digital Care Hub
- This free elearning course is for those with responsibility for data security and protection in small to medium sized care and support organisations in England. We have used the term data security and protection lead to describe this role. You can use this course to improve your knowledge of data protection and cyber security and to support your continuing professional development (CPD). The course meets the training requirements within the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) and builds on the existing Data security and protection elearning for social care staff.
- Is your social care organisation ready to move from analogue to digital? - Digital Care Hub
- Chaired by Bev Futtit, Digital Transformation Lead at the National Care Forum, guest speakers explain the digital switchover and what care providers need to do.
- MASTERCLASS: Accessing GP Data with GP Connect - Digital Care Hub
- Chaired by Katie Thorn, Digital Lead at Digital Care Hub, hear from both a care home and home care provider about how they are accessing GP data through their digital social care records systems.
- The Digital Switchover (explained in 2 minutes) - TSA
- The quick notes version of everything you need to know.
- Would you survive an email attack? - Digital Care Hub and Charity Digital
- What are your risks of having your email hacked and how can you avoid it?
- MASTERCLASS: Navigating Digital Assurance - Digital Care Hub
- Information on what data standards are and what they mean for the software we use in social care.
- The Health Automated Podcast
- The Health Automated team and special guests discuss what's going on in the world of social care, Homecare technology, AI and what they don't do with the other four hours a day when they aren't working!
- The Care Leaders Network Podcast
- The Care Leaders Network Podcast is the podcast for the leaders of care organisations.The podcast is hosted by Simon Parker, who is the the founder and Chief Executive of the Care Leaders Network, which is the professional community for the leaders of care organisations. In each episode, Simon speaks with the the UK's most innovative care leaders to explore how they are raising standards in Social Care.
- The Tech Care Podcast
- Cyber Assessment Framework - NCSC
- Cyber incidents can result in a number of different consequences, depending on the nature of the network and information systems targeted and intention of the perpetrators. Circumstances in which the possible consequences of cyber incidents are extremely serious or even, perhaps catastrophic, generally require very robust levels of cyber security and resilience. It is for these circumstances that the NCSC has developed the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) collection.
- Free Cyber Action Plan - NCSC
- Answer a few simple questions to get a free personalised action plan that lists what you or your organisation can do right now to protect against cyber attack.
- Data Security and Protection Toolkit - NHS England
- The Data Security and Protection Toolkit is an online self-assessment tool that allows organisations to measure their performance against the National Data Guardian’s 10 data security standards. All organisations that have access to NHS patient data and systems must use this toolkit to provide assurance that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly.
- Cyber Essentials Framework - NCSC
- Protect your organisation, whatever its size, against the most common cyber threats. A requirement in some Local Authority contracts.