A council in the Midlands estimates that it will make productivity savings of £4.7m a year by issuing social care employees with tablets.
Nottinghamshire County Council said it aimed to complete the roll-out of the new technology by the end of 2015.
The move follows a successful pilot which showed that social care staff made productivity savings of 16% through automating workflows.
A report to councillors yesterday said: “The pilot benefits included slicker and faster processes for completing assessments and case notes, reduced travel to/from bases, discharge of patients more quickly from hospital and less “dead” time waiting in courts and between appointments.”
The tablets will use the Windows 8.1 operating system, after a further pilot.
Overall, the council says that its ICT strategy for 2014-17 could save more than £8m by the end of the year.
Other measures in the strategy include:
- A new electronic monitoring system covering home-based care services which will help design care packages within budgets and monitor service delivery, with anticipated savings of £2m per year;
- A new contract with Virgin Media to deliver broadband in council offices and schools, saving an estimated £800,000 per year, starting from October;
- A fax server solution, supporting the digital switch-over of faxing, aimed at saving up to £300,000 each year.
The savings will contribute towards the £77m in savings the council needs to make by 2017/18 because of significant cuts to its funding from central government.
Darren Langton, vice chairman of the council’s finance and property, said: “There is still lots more to do, but by putting technology at the heart of the way we provide services we are making rapid progress.
“Using technology to reduce our running costs helps relieve some of the extreme financial pressures on frontline services.”
