Engage: Pushing for more digital confidence across adult social care
Skills for Care CEO, Oonagh Smyth, speaks to us about their ‘Building digital confidence’ campaign and how they’re supporting the future of digitally capable care.
Throughout November and December, we’re delivering our ‘Building digital confidence’ campaign. The campaign focuses on helping adult social care staff become more confident with digital technology.
Digital skills are important in adult social care because they enhance the quality and efficiency of care delivery. As the sector grows and changes, digital competence is likely to become increasingly critical if we’re to meet the demands of modern care.
The ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’, which launched in July, highlighted a 2021 review which found basic digital skill gaps in the social care workforce. The Strategy went on to make several recommendations aimed at helping to improve digital skills across the sector.
The Adult Social Care Digital Skills Framework is a free resource to help support the development of digital skills across the adult social care workforce. The framework supports the government’s commitments stated in Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care to provide a ‘comprehensive digital learning offer’ for the adult social care sector.
As part of this framework, Skills for Care has developed a series of digital skills eLearning modules that are free to access on the Skills for Care website. The modules were co-developed with the adult social care sector, with insights and contributions from care providers, local authorities, people drawing on care and support and subject matter experts.
The modules help to support people working in adult social care with a broad base of practical digital knowledge and skills, with each module covering a particular area or ‘theme’ of knowledge under the framework.
The seven modules are:
- Using technology to support person-centred care
- Technical skills in using technology
- Communicating through technology
- Using and managing data
- Being safe and secure online
- Ethical use of technology
- Digital learning, development and wellbeing.
To access the modules, you can visit www.learningfor.care and register for a new account. Learners can progress through the modules flexibly at their own pace, and they can be accessed on different devices, including smartphones or tablets.
Personally, I believe that over the coming decades digital skills will form a key part of what separates the best social care providers from others. I’m hopeful that this tool will prove useful to any social care organisation looking to take their first steps towards building a more tech-savvy workforce.
Find out more about our ‘Building digital confidence’ campaign by visiting our campaign landing page.
About The Author
Oonagh Smyth is CEO of Skills for Care – the workforce development charity for the 1.5 million people who work in adult social care in England and the strategic delivery partner for the Department of Health and Social Care. Prior to starting in Skills for Care in 2020, Oonagh was the Executive Director of Strategy and Influence in Mencap, her role covered three countries and she led governance, strategy, programme delivery and influencing work.
Picture (c) Drobot Dean / Freepik.
