Making the case for proactive and preventative care: Insights from ADASS and TEC Services Association’s latest roundtable

By Paul Berney, TSA Associate

ADASS and TEC Services Association’s (TSA) joint Commission on proactive and preventative Technology Enabled Care (TEC) hosted its second roundtable in January and the feedback we gathered was invaluable.

Chaired by Melanie Williams, ADASS President, and Sir David Pearson, TEC Quality Chair, the event was attended by around 30 commission members including, Sally Burlington, ADASS CEO, Alyson Scurfield, TSA CEO and Peter Skinner, Programme Director for Digitising Social Care (DiSC) in the NHS England Transformation Directorate, along with directors of adult social services, principal social workers and occupational therapists.

Three commission members who draw on care and support themselves, Rich Amos, Debra Edwards and Clenton Farquharson, also contributed throughout the day, ensuring that lived experience was at the heart of the conversation.

Valuable input also came from the four sponsors Careium, The Access Group, CGI and Legrand Care.

This roundtable was a chance to update commission members on our progress in creating a blueprint that can help councils make the business case for proactive and preventative TEC.

Over the past eight weeks, I have interviewed almost 40 local authority TEC commissioners, strategic leads and TEC providers to collect examples of the proactive and preventative care services they have in place.

From smart speakers and tablets to connected care platforms, local authorities have shared data on the number of people using these systems, their monitoring and alert procedures, costs involved, return on investment (ROI) and use cases. Crucially, they’ve also talked me through their entire development process.

We are using these insights to create a blueprint in three parts. This will include:

• A step-by-step guide based on best practice from councils already running successful proactive and preventative services
• An overview of services already launched with exemplars from the councils using them
• A financial tool allowing commissioners to estimate financial returns based on models elsewhere

Running alongside this, my colleague Rowan Atkins is gathering personal stories from people who draw on proactive and preventative care. She has been speaking to younger and older adults, family members and practitioners about how they are using systems and the impact on their lives.

Weaving lived experience throughout this blueprint is essential, both in terms of different perspectives but also bringing this work back to what it is all about – supporting people to live the lives they want to lead.

In Spring, towards the end of the commission, we’ll be engaging with people who draw on care and support to get their feedback on the blueprint itself. Commission members, the ADASS Regional Chairs Group, the ADASS Digital Strategic network, the Principal Social Worker Network and local authority commissioners will also feedback on the blueprint. ADASS and TSA will then launch the final blueprint at the ADASS Spring Seminar from 28 – 30 April 2025. 

We are excited that with so many diverse perspectives and a broad range of experiences, we will be able to develop a blueprint that will be hugely useful for both local authorities facing resource constraints and, at the same time, those who draw on care and support whose daily experience could be bolstered by new and innovative uses of technology.