NHSX will be launching a new Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to support the implementation of digital social care records. 

In an NHSX blog post by Peter Skinner, assistant director of programmes and Natalie James, programme manager, the importance of supporting care providers to implement digital social care records was outlined.

The post also shared the work NHSX is currently undertaking to create a 'vibrant and innovative' market.

WHY IT MATTERS

Responding to the recent Busting Bureaucracy report's ambitions to join up care across social care and the NHS, the DPS will launch in April 2021 to give social care providers access to a list of supplier solutions.

The DPS launch is in response to the adoption of digital innovation being historically slower in the social care sector than the health sector. Social care providers have also requested help to navigate the marketplace and identify digital solutions that best meet their needs.

These solutions have been assured as 'fully compliant with the relevant interoperability, data and cybersecurity standards.'

The NHSX will also provide buyers guidance to help social care providers identify the best value solution for them.

This project will aim to free up time spent by staff on administrative tasks and equip them with the information they need to deliver care.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Indra Joshi, director of AI NHSX, recently outlined the AI Labs goals for 2021 in a Q&A webinar, covering how the department plans to safely and ethically deploy and benefit from AI technology during the pandemic. The launch of the AI Lab Skunkworks was also mentioned as a new faction made up of a multidisciplinary team of data scientists, engineers and curators that will trial innovative ideas in AI to support the health and care community.

ON THE RECORD

Natalie James, programme manager at NHSX, said: "There is a huge appetite across the social care sector to engage with digital transformation. The adoption of a digital social care record will support social care providers to capture real-time information, view relevant information from the NHS record and enable more effective quality management. But this is only the start of the journey. 

"The universal adoption of digital social care record solutions, across the social care sector, has the potential to transform care outcomes. It’s the platform on which other remote care tools can integrate. It’s a new source of data for shared care records, to enable more sophisticated population health management and a greater personalisation of care planning that focuses on the individual."

If you would like to be involved in the programme, or if you want to learn more about the work that is being done, you can reach out to the team at dscr.enquiries@nhsx.nhs.uk.