From AI pain measurement to robot companions, early learning from funded care tech projects

From an AI pain measurement device to robot companions offering check-ins and reminders, learning from current projects funded by DiSC’s Adult Social Care Technology Fund is already inspiring social care leaders and commissioners to think differently.

Nick Goodall, Assistant Director for Digitising Social Care, outlines some of the themes emerging so far.

The number and quality of applications to our Adult Social Care Technology Fund, clearly demonstrated the inspiring level of energy and enthusiasm for digital technology amongst social care providers and their teams.

With only a month to go until interim reports are submitted by the eight funded projects, we are already seeing clear themes and learnings emerge.

Funding was allocated to support technology solutions that focused on at least one of our three priority areas;

• To increase care quality and safety
• To reduce avoidable admissions or readmissions to hospital
• To increase the support for people to live independently in their own home

Not surprisingly, genuine and active engagement with care provider teams is coming out on top as one of the most crucial factors when it comes to implementing new technology solutions. In a system under pressure, willingness and capacity to get to grips and experiment with technology are prerequisites for success.

In Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, a new digital tool to accurately measure the pain levels of people who aren’t able to communicate verbally, has got off to a hugely encouraging start. Trained carers and staff use an AI based app featuring automated facial recognition and analysis to detect facial muscle movements which indicate pain. Combined with the carer’s own observations and comments entered into the app, a pain score is automatically calculated and can be recorded, analysed and used to plan and deliver appropriate medication and treatment. Over 700 residents are now registered to use the tool, supporting people with a range of needs, including people living with dementia. Over 160 more people are due to be set up and trained in the coming months, helping to reduce hospital admissions through more effective pain management in care settings.

Getting to this point has taken enormous efforts by the project team, who learned that successful implementation requires the buy in and support of each and every team member in a setting or service. They found that convincing directors and senior managers of the merits of a new solution was only the first step. Meeting and showing registered care home managers, nursing staff or community teams is actually the most important step. These are the dedicated professionals who will be using the devices with the people they care for, and they need reassurance that it is effective, efficient and worth investing time to train hard-pressed teams who already have their hands full.

In Shropshire, where funding was approved for the highly innovative Virtual Care Delivery Service, people and the staff and system that supports them, are already seeing multiple benefits from the new technology. The service ranges from personalised daily prompts to wellbeing checks and setting goals to achieve improved outcomes, all focussing on greater independence and having robust risk management mechanisms in place. Two devices have been used through the project, ‘Genie’, a robot companion that offers regular reminders, medication checks and calls to a support team, and ‘CareBuilder’, which focuses on live daily monitoring, risk management and direct access to key support networks for individuals.

Knowing and understanding care providers’ priorities and concerns has been fundamental to winning their trust and support to trial new delivery approaches, which naturally take additional time and resource to begin with.

Interestingly, whilst in Bedfordshire, the project team found that winter, and the pressures on teams and systems that comes with it, was the hardest time to ask care providers to try something new, in Shropshire the seasonal strain helped to demonstrate the pressing need for transformation.  

In Redbridge, where care providers are trialling a suite of new care technologies to help prevent and detect falls, support and enthusiasm amongst care staff has grown as they have experienced first-hand how the devices can help free them up to spend their time more effectively.

The devices being used include health monitoring kits, movement sensitive wristbands that detect changes in gait pattern, conversational AI, electricity monitoring and 4D mapping technology, all of which have offered significant learning for use by other systems and organisations. This includes recognition of the staff time and workflow redesign that is needed to make best use of what the technology has to offer.

Meanwhile, in Lancashire and South Cumbria, an innovative, technology enabled medication system and remote monitoring solution is about to be implemented. This will use non-intrusive sensors and machine learning to monitor in real time and provide data insights of an individual’s pattern of behaviour in their own home. The project aims to evaluate if the digital system is helping people to take their medication regularly, increasing adherence and safety and improving people’s independence. Active consideration is already being given to how these devices can be adopted in the long term, if successful.

It is still early days for Adult Social Care Technology Fund projects, but ensuring plans are in place to make successful solutions scalable and sustainable in the long term is a crucial part of the process.

Please note: this fund was only available last year and is now closed to applications.