Care Home Professional – August 2019

18 CARE HOME PROFESSIONAL | August 2019

IN THE LOOP KATE TERRONI, CQC CHIEF INSPECTOR OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE

KATE TERRONI, THE CARE QUALITY

COMMISSION’S (CQC) CHIEF INSPECTOR

OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE, DISCUSSES HOW

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION CAN ENHANCE

THE QUALITY OF CARE

IN THE LOOP

W

elcome to my second column for Care Home

Professional and thank you to all those who

have got in touch since reading my first column. In

my first column I wrote about my three priorities, one

of which is about enabling and encouraging innovation within the care

sector and supporting the impact that emerging technologies can have on

enhancing the quality of people’s care.

With the publication of our Driving improvement through technologyi

resource; and the news that the NHS will soon be teaming up with Amazon

to allow people to access health information through an AI-powered voice

assistant (Alexa) - now seems like the perfect time to discuss the role that

innovation and technology can, and indeed will, play in improving care

and providing real solutions to the issues facing the whole of the adult

social care sector.

The Driving Improvement resource

contains some excellent examples

of where technology is enhancing

people’s lives.

Amongst the examples given is a

residential home that is using a secure

web-based tool, accessed via a tablet,

which contains information about the

people receiving care and provides

‘interaction triggers’, such as personal

photos, music, videos and stories, all

about that person’s life. This gives care

staff meaningful prompts to engage

with the person, increases mental

stimulation and has supported the

development of relationships between

people who receive services and their

staff. I’m very keen that we at the CQC,

along with providers and commissioners

of care, look at these examples of

innovative working to understand the

effectiveness of new practices, and how

they can be shared more widely for the

benefit of more people.

Of course, innovating in social care is

different to innovating in other sectors,

as everything that we do impacts on the

quality of people’s care and, therefore,

innovation must always be mindful of

people’s safety, dignity and privacy.

I am very clear that we must embrace

new and innovative practice. We

cannot stand in the way of digital and

technological development; regulation

must keep pace with new advancements

and constantly encourage progression

• always keeping in mind how different
  and inventive ways of doing things can
  ultimately lead to better, high-quality,
  person-centred care.
  I am also very clear that in exploring
  such technology and innovation we are
  in no way seeking to substitute the role
  of our care and support workforce. In
  fact, I strongly believe that technology
  can greatly improve the experience for
  staff as well as people receiving services,
  allowing them to spend less time on
  paperwork and; instead enabling them
  to focus more of their time on doing what
  they do best – delivering compassionate
  and person-centred care.
  Many thanks, Kate.
  Source: iDriving improvement through
  technology, https:// bit.ly/2GeWtcZ

Kate Terroni