Wigan Council: a whole system approach to digital in its adult social care service

This has been achieved over years and with support from elected members and senior leaders. A key feature of taking a digital approach is to ensure staff are supported with the skills and confidence to use care technology to best meet the needs of residents.

This case study by Wigan Council also provides an example of work which fits within our What Good Looks Like for Adult Social Care, particularly success measures Support Workforce and Empower People.

Care technology has long been used as a central part of social care in Wigan Council and since 2007 digital skills have been embedded into staff training. As digital technology progresses quickly, the council continues to update and develop how they use digital technology to support people using social care. The challenge has been keeping up with the pace of change and ensuring that the council supports staff to adapt and react to these changes.

The existing care technology equipment contract was due to expire and Wigan council put this out to tender with a requirement for the provider to be innovative and use the latest care technology equipment. The contract was awarded to Medequip, the current provider. Within this contract there is not a single care technology supplier to ensure that there is flexibility for all residents to access care technology products that meet their needs. To support this new contract and push for innovation the council employed a technical officer to research changes within the sector exploring what is available, work with the suppliers, and encouraging people to self-serve themselves and find a care technology product that is right for them.

The council knew that to keep up to date with care technology changes and maintain staff skills it would need to also consider the future workforce. The council is working with Wigan and Leigh College to tackle challenges in social care recruitment to meet demand. To meet the workforce demand one in 10 students need to enter the adult social care workforce. A training floor, complete with kitchen, lounge, and bathroom, has been created on the college campus to showcase digital care technology alongside more traditional occupational therapy aids and adaptations. This partnership with the college aims to dispel some of the misconceptions that students have about social care just being about delivering hands on personal care.

Wigan council also have a training bungalow which has just been revamped. This bungalow is fitted with a lounge, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. It is open to all staff, people who use care and support and families to promote the benefits of technology and improve confidence to everyone. Elected members, including the digital strategy lead, have also seen the bungalow. Its important for people to understand and test out the care technology so they can be familiar with it before its used in their own homes. For staff it has helped to get them to think differently about what the care technology can do to support people.

The bungalow is also a key part of staff mandatory training within the council. All staff in adult social care, including administrative and analytical staff, are required to go through the bungalow experience. Before COVID the bungalow had around 2,000 people use for training. In addition to the bungalow experience, all staff are required to complete online training on digital technology.

Alongside mandatory training, the council provides continuous support to staff with a dedicated care technology team to deliver training and work alongside the technology officer. This support includes a dedicated YouTube channel designed to host case studies that showcase equipment and providers in a real environment. The technology team also are on hand to respond to any queries through a dedicated email box.

Finally, Wigan continue to develop a digital catalogue which provides prompts and links within the supported self-assessments. This is done for all of Wigan’s supported accommodation partners, staff and health partners. This covers each of the 12 domains that not only teaches about care technology but also how the whole service works. The 12 domains are:

• Domain One - Making decisions and having control over my day to day life
• Domain Two - Maintaining personal hygiene
• Domain Three - Toileting needs
• Domain Four – Being appropriately clothed
• Domain Five - Managing and maintaining nutrition
• Domain Six - Making use of my home safely 
• Domain Seven - Maintaining a habitable home environment
• Domain Eight - Keeping those around me safe
• Domain Nine - Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships
• Domain Ten - Making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community
• Domain Eleven - Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering
• Domain Twelve - Family responsibilities

Since adopting the new training programme there has been an increase in referrals for care technology from occupational therapists and social workers with a steady growth since 2021 from 2,300 to 2,700 users. There has also been improved outcomes for people that were traditionally seen as unable to stay at home including people living with dementia and or those believed to be at risk of home fires. This has enhanced the quality of life for people and kept them in their homes for longer by providing better quality and choice of support.

One of the areas of growth seen are people who have multiple devices beyond a simple care unit and pendant alarm. This has indicated to Wigan that people entering the service have more complex needs which requires more devices to support them to remain safe at home.

A significant impact has been changing the culture on what support could look like for people with a disability, included people with a learning disability or those living with a mental health condition. The digital approach and use of care technology has enabled support to be provided in a less intrusive way for people particularly in shared settings such as co-clustered housing. Staff now have the confidence to look at next steps with a person and help them move from a supported environment to their own home with care technology.

The council have undertaken several cost-benefit analysis over the years to showcase the cost savings of care technology such as removing waking nights when appropriate and using care technology.

Wigan’s Digital Transformation in care programme has been supported through an invest to save approach, both in technology and staffing infrastructure, including new Technology Enabled Care roles. Wigan Council are now planning to launch a website for staff to seek advice and support on care technology. This will enable the care technology team to provide content and answers to frequently asked questions through the email box. The care technology team also plan to look at being more inclusive and utilise the connectivity in equipment for other uses. This includes using heartbeat monitoring data to predict outcomes in people and prevent deterioration.

The disconnection of analogue telephone lines across Wigan has meant the council has become more savvy with utilisation and connectivity. Some barriers the council is overcoming is the lack of Wi-Fi within peoples homes and the devices that are on offer. These changes are bringing in further expectations including working with housing colleagues in sheltered housing and extra care to mandate new build properties to be built with technology in mind.

Wigan Council has worked to ensure that a digital approach has become embedded within adult social care and that they take a whole system approach with including elected members and senior leadership who drive and support this focus on a digital culture. The above provides a snapshot of some of this work to support their workforce.