Leading on the development of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF), we recognised that there was a huge amount to be gained if we could make the data from the ASCOF more accessible, user-friendly and fit for purpose.
The Framework measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter most to people, and a key role of the ASCOF is supporting local democratic accountability – a local person or organisation being able to hold their council to account for the quality of the services they provide. This can only be done if the information they need is at their fingertips.
Through the use of digital technology we:
i) Provided local authorities with a useful tool for them to easily access performance data, enabling them to benchmark their performance, look across at other areas and share best practice; and,
ii) Provided local people with easy to access and understand information about social care in their area, allowing them to have informed conversations with their Council and hold them to account for the services they provide.
The tool is now used as example throughout the Department of Health and beyond, of a simple digital solution to an on-going policy problem.
When I began, I knew what we needed to achieve but no idea how, or even if, it was feasible. I built myself a network of colleagues and stakeholders who together had the expertise we needed to get the work off the ground.
It is important to not lose your civil servant instincts just because this may be an alien area – identify all the options, challenge all the assumptions, and ask what can be achieved for half the cost.
I was hugely surprised at the scale of Digital work being led by our Arm’s Length Bodies and Executive Agencies. Everyone wanted to share lessons learnt, advise on options and look at ways we could work together.
Before I lead this project I must admit I was cynical about ‘going digital’. It was always ‘bottom of the list’, ‘maybe if we had more time’, in an ideal world’ type-thinking. What I have realised though, is that the use of digital technology is just another option we should consider in our normal day-to-day work. It can cost money, it can take time, but often it is just using a different forum to better engage with a particular audience.
Now, whenever I undertake work which faces away from the Department, I look beyond our normal press and comms channels, and think is there a way we could be doing this more effectively by using digital technologies?
We are able to track traffic on the site and have had over five thousand hits since the launch week in November, with nearly 30% of those being returning visitors. We are now developing an engagement-plan to further understand user needs and hear their feedback. This will inform not just development of our tool, but also feed into the development of others across the Department, that are just getting off the ground.
Start off articulating what it is you want to achieve. Digital tools must be developed with the user in mind and we found no end of service users, health and care professionals and whole organisations who were willing to spend time with us at ridiculously short notice, for free as we initiated, developed and tested our product.
I was surprised at the appetite for digital technologies amongst our stakeholders - once you move away from the technical language and outline that what you want to do is take a little time to see if we could do something differently, to better meet their needs, everyone is willing to work with you.
I think some parts of the civil service are still in the early stages of embracing digital technology, so there are a number of bespoke tools emerging. Tap into these – can they be adapted, learnt from, developed or improved to meet your needs?
Whilst I have now moved on from Social Care, I speak to interested colleagues at least once a week, share the site with many more and regularly point people in the direction of our Digital Team, knowing that there will be a digital solution for their problem within reach.
The latest version of the framework can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-outcomes-framework-2014-to-2015
Mia Snook, Department of Health
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