Local authorities are under pressure to invest in telecare systems that save money on the care of learning disabled people and enable them to live independently.
Earlier this year the government unveiled a three year strategy on learning disabilities called Valuing People Now, which calls for more choices for learning disabled people.
And this April responsibility for learning disabled people and the funds to pay for their care were transferred from the NHS to local authorities.
Some councils have reacted swiftly to their new responsibilities. North Yorkshire County Council is switching nearly half its £16m care budget for this year into assistive technology in a bid to cut costs and improve the quality of life for sick and disabled people.
“We are going to purchase 50 per cent less residential care,” says Seamus Breen, strategic commissioner for North Yorkshire. “The money - we will be spending £7.9m this year - will be going on assistive technology.”
Breen was speaking at the Home Farm Trust’s Person Centred Technology Conference on assistive technology and telecare for people with learning disabilities.
Firms that provide care to the county council must consider technology in their proposals. “We expect to make £12m of efficiencies over the next two years that’s why we are investing in person centred technology,” explains Breen.
The biggest challenge, he says, is in changing the mindset, training and culture in care services.
Few local authorities have gone as far as North Yorkshire. “Only a handful them are doing what North Yorkshire is doing: sizeable funds are not going into telecare,” points out Kevin Alderson, public sector policy director at telecare supplier Tunstall.
Alderson acknowledges that despite industry efforts to create joint standards through projects such as the Continua Alliance, there is a need for manufacturers to work together more closely.
“People are not always spending money in the best possible way,” says Anne Williams, director of learning disability services at the NHS. “There are many examples of where support has been redesigned and costs less.”
Williams believes there needs to be greater awareness of technology among support staff.
Gilly Aspey and her learning disabled son James told delegates to the conference how he used technology to travel, study, work and live safely in his own home.
On public transport, James carries a personal digital assistant to communicate with his family, while flood, smoke and heat sensors have been installed in James’ home to alert carers if anything should go wrong.
James is also prompted by his technology to do things at the right time and he can control who comes through his front door.
“The knowledge that systems allow James to live independently has changed our lives,” says his mother.
Stories such as the Aspeys’ are crucial in persuading councillors to understand the importance of technology in allowing authorities to support more people with less money, Breen told his audience.
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