NHS Digital and Local Government Association team up to offer funding to councils
Local authorities are being offered the chance to bid for a slice of more than £1m in funding for digital social care projects.
Councils can obtain financial backing for projects that use digital technologies in the delivery of adult social services. According to NHS Digital, which is providing the funding, bids to the Social Care Digital Innovation Programme should propose programmes of work addressing one of three themes: “efficiency and strengths-based approaches; managing marketing and commission; [and] sustainable and integrated social care and health systems”.
In a process managed by the Local Government Association, 10 councils will be awarded up to £30,000 to support the design process, after which eight will be given another cash injection of as much as £90,000 to fund deployment. Money will be given out over the course of two years.
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Kate Allsop, mayor of Mansfield and deputy chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “We are pleased to run the third wave of funding in collaboration with NHS Digital, to stimulate digital solutions to social care challenges at a local level. We have seen some exciting solutions over the last two years and I hope this funding encourages further innovation across the sector.”
The annual funding programme has previously invested in projects including the use of exoskeleton devices to support the work of carers on the Isle of Wight, and the installation of Amazon Alexa technology in the homes of Hampshire citizens to enable more independent living.
Pam Garraway, senior responsible officer for social care at NHS Digital said: “Every year we see some truly innovative projects that take a creative digital approach to solving the challenges that local authorities face in social care.”
