Digital first momentum during Covid-19

As the Covid-19 pandemic has progressed and the NHS has rapidly adopted digital technologies, there is a growing consensus there is no going back.

This digital pivot is a real opportunity for change and as a provider of an interoperability platform and services we're right at the heart of it.

We hope that health and social care will continue the focus on digital first working and that this new impetus for technological innovation will support multi-agency working and delivery of new models of care.

Multi-agency working

Even before the pandemic, healthcare providers were increasingly using third sector organisations to deliver support services.

Now, the need for healthcare organisations and local authorities to work seamlessly with the third sector to maximise capacity and community assets has accelerated and there is renewed appetite to work together in a different, digital way.

Supporting this new collaborative approach

We have to support and nurture this new partnership approach because it will make a huge difference to the delivery of personalised care.

The demand on providers and agencies to deliver more with smaller budgets will only grow. According to research conducted in June 2020 by 3SG, an enterprise that supports the voluntary sector in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), '70% of local charities surveyed in BaNES have stepped up their services to support people through Covid-19 but nearly 40% of commissioned services are being asked to make cuts or haven't heard about funding yet."

During the COVID-19 crisis, the immediate effort has gone into keeping people physically well. Now, and for the foreseeable future, we need a similar huge effort for those who are newly vulnerable with mental and social health needs. As well as this growing requirement, there is also an expectation from people for joined-up care. Social prescribing will be more important than ever.

Digital solutions like RIVIAM Wellbeing which enable teams of healthcare, social care and third sector professionals to work together in new digital ways are a huge step forward. Old paper-based and siloed systems have to be put to bed and relegated as a thing of the past.