Over the last twenty years, recipients of social care have become gradually older and sicker. Homecare agencies and care homes have been dealt with progressively tougher, more complex challenges, and at times, society has looked the other way. Over recent months, the effects of that have hit home for all of us.

But something more positive has also happened. Digital innovation has seen diagnostic tools become smaller, cheaper and easier to use. That was the motivation for Expert Care – Care City’s work to give domiciliary carers some of the latest digital technology to spot ill-health quicker, so they can call the right clinician at the right time with the right information.

Expert Carers carry a 10-parameter urine test made by Healthy.io, reading the results with the camera of their smartphone. And they have WHZAN’s blue box, enabling them to take blood oxygen, blood pressure and temperature readings, sharing the results wirelessly with doctors.

This week, WHZAN was rolled out across a large part of Essex to 9,000 care home residents. John Cooling, Chairman of WHZAN, has credited Care City in helping to demonstrate the power and potential of their technology. 

But if the use of digital diagnostics by carers is going to make a difference for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of social care recipients, we need a way to train carers in its use at scale.

That is why we are delighted to launch a new project, in partnership with Barking & Dagenham College (BDC) and funded by Ufi VocTech Trust. E-Care will see Care City and BDC build a mobile learning platform to help carers – many of whom lack the time and resources to go to college for long periods – to learn about physiology, the latest care tech and about working with District Nurses and GPs.

Often we hear about ‘upskilling’ carers – narrow, functional training that picks holes in current practice and instructs them in a new task. But care staff have been starved of opportunities to really learn and develop, to build their knowledge and professional confidence and progress in their careers. Care City is determined to change that, and we know BDC feel the same way. We are delighted to share Expert Care in this way, and we hope it can change lives.

Author: John Craig, Chief Exec, Care City