Tech for Better Care A programme exploring the potential for using technology to enable care at home and in the community.
- Tech for Better Care is a £2 million innovation programme exploring the potential for using technology to enable care at home and in the community, as well proactive, relationship-focused care.
- Initially 10 teams were chosen from across the UK to develop promising new ideas, and six teams tested their ideas in phase two. Three teams are being supported to pilot their new approaches to care during phase three.
- The programme began in September 2023 and will end in December 2025.
The care system in the UK is under immense pressure, resulting in care that’s falling short of expectations for staff, carers (paid and unpaid) and care recipients.
New approaches to care are needed, and with that an opportunity to think more long-term about the kind of care that we want in the future: care that puts the recipients’ needs at the centre; care that focuses on relationships rather than transactions; and care that’s proactive rather than reactive. Technology is an exciting enabler to making this happen.
Finding the time and resource to make progress on ideas is challenging, especially given the current pressures on time, resource, and capacity. Which is why the Health Foundation has developed the Tech for Better Care funding programme.
About the programme
Launched in September 2023, Tech for Better Care is a £2 million innovation programme exploring the potential for using technology to enable care at home and in the community.
The programme is supporting teams from across the UK to develop, test and pilot approaches to care that focus on the caring and enabling relationships needed between those who deliver and those who receive care, and on care that is proactive in supporting people to live a better and more independent life where possible.
Teams are supported through a three-phase innovation process, with the most promising ideas taken forward to the next phase:
- Phase one: Explore ideas (October – November 2023)
- Phase two: Test ideas (March – July 2024)
- Phase three: Pilot ideas (November 2024 – December 2025)
Social Finance is the support partner for the programme, working alongside teams providing expertise, support and guidance. Ipsos is the evaluation supplier, undertaking a developmental evaluation of the programme to support learning and decision-making as we go.
Programme design
In 2022 the Health Foundation commissioned PUBLIC to help us understand the complex topic of technology enabled care at home and in the community, and how a new Health Foundation programme could make a difference. The final report Technology enabling new models of care in the home or community: analysis recommendations (authored by Liam Cahill on behalf of PUBLIC) brings together the findings from interviews and workshops with those who receive care, deliver care and decision makers at provider, system and national levels. Insights and recommendations from the report and our work together with PUBLIC resulted in the first iteration of the Tech for Better Care programme.
Phase three pilot projects
We started with an initial cohort of 10 teams,with six awarded further funding and support to test their ideas. In November 2024, three teams were then awarded funding to pilot their ideas.
Projects – phases one and two
From September – December 2023, 10 teams were given funding and support to explore and refine their early ideas. This included working with people who deliver and receive care to understand needs and opportunities for the new approaches to care. Six teams were then supported to test those ideas (March – July 2024), prototyping and iterating their concepts with users, communities, and stakeholders.
Exploring how technology can enable self-directed support, reduce administrative burden, improve communication and connect individuals to a self-directed community.
Exploring how technology can be used to support patients, and those closest to them, at the end of their life to access palliative care and support at home.
Exploring a new digital matching platform, providing an opportunity for more people who may be on the edge of crisis to benefit from day or respite support within Shared Lives.
Exploring a relational and collaborative experience of receiving, giving and self-administering care, using wearable technology solutions, in order to connect the patient, care teams and wider network of problem solvers.
Exploring how technology can support the council’s Home Support Service to foster care circles around people in Powys, providing enhanced relational and proactive support.
Exploring whether a digital platform for neuropsychological rehabilitation can be used to support community health care professionals to deliver more effective care and whether it can be integrated into the care pathway and then scaled up to meet current demand.
Exploring how technology can provide holistic support for carers to live well and stay well and be reached before they become fatigued or depressed.
Additional tech-enabled care projects
We received hundreds of applications to be part of the Tech for Better Care programme, outlining innovative and promising proposals. In addition to the 10 teams selected to be part of the programme, we also awarded funding to three high potential projects to develop their ideas.