Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (ICS) has received a £1.1m grant from NHS England’s Adult Social Care Technology Fund to enhance digital solutions for local residents.
Over a period of 15 months, this funding will enable the ICS to expand existing technologies and introduce new ones in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire and Health Innovation East. Only three other health and care systems were granted a share of the £3.7m funding.
Patricia Coker, senior responsible officer for the Digitising Social Care (DiSC) program, expressed her excitement about the collaborative efforts between the NHS, local authorities, and the care sector. The funding will support initiatives like PainChek and Robopets to assist vulnerable adults in the region.
PainChek is designed to identify and manage pain for non-verbal individuals, while Robopets provide a calming presence and companionship. These technologies aim to improve residents’ wellbeing, quality of life, and care quality.
The University of Hertfordshire will evaluate the impact of these technologies to support older people and their carers in different social care settings. The goal is to create an evidence-based plan for scalability across the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICS.
