Beverly Futtit, Director of Digital Transformation at the National Care Forum, shares how a focus on digital skills and technology adoption is empowering both care workers and people who draw on care and support.
Digital skills will be crucial in the successful implementation of the government’s three shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. Focusing on strengthening the capabilities of the adult social care workforce and improving the understanding of how technology can assist those who draw on care are key.
This is why, for the last few years, we at the NCF have focused on using our leadership role to create opportunities for both the care and support workforce and people who draw on care to adopt and benefit from new technology and confidently develop their digital skills. NCF is working with many of its not-for-profit members and in consultation with care workers and people with lived experience of drawing on care and support to ensure outcomes are improved for everyone in the sector. Digital skills are critical pillars that will strengthen the government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS and prove the critical role that social care will play in its successful implementation.
The ‘doctor in your pocket’ idea is great if you have a smart phone, know how to use it and have the Wi-Fi or data to connect to apps that can help you. But not everyone has this access. Acting on statistics from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority that found that 56% of non-internet users are disabled adults and NHS data showing that over 20% of over 65’s are digitally excluded, NCF is ensuring that creating digital inclusion is an integral part of an exciting, new, unique partnership that we have recently created.
This is the Adult Social Care Testbed partnership with University of Liverpool, funded by Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Innovation Zone, which aims to use collaboration between care providers and tech providers to help ensure nobody falls through the gap into digital exclusion. All parties within the testbed project will work together to develop, test and evaluate innovative tech products and services, catalyse the use of social care data and upskill the care workforce in with their digital skills in the Liverpool City Region. Through this work together, we seek to nurture inclusive growth and help transform the care and support experienced by working-aged adults with disabilities and the region’s growing ageing population.
We believe the compact nature of the testbed offers a genuine opportunity to understand what the local sector, its workforce and the people who rely on support truly need and what needs to be on the watch list to prevent digital exclusion.
Also currently in development is a programme with the intention to create a new type of professional in adult social care. The Care Technologist Training Project will bridge the gap between traditional care approaches and modern technological solutions. Care Technologists will identify, demonstrate, and teach the use of technology to improve outcomes. They’ll need to be able to develop a good understanding of people’s care and support needs and the diverse circumstances of their lives. They will also need the ability to assess those needs and explore how technology can best support choice and independence.
Each element of the project and training syllabus is being carefully designed in consultation with existing care tech providers, senior leaders, care workers, and individuals who draw upon support. Through discovery sessions it is becoming clear that these groups hold a range of views on what the role should encompass and what capabilities are the most important. What has been identified is that this training can support the shift from hospital to community and pick up on issues that may serve as early indications of longer-term challenges, thus supporting the prevention agenda. A focus on the individual, rather than the technology is also a message that has come across very strongly during our conversations, as has the importance of building trusted relationships to support people with new technology.
Connecting all these other digital projects together is NCF’s Digital Leadership Programme which NCF deliver as part of Skills for Care’s Quality Assured Care Learning Service. Digital leaders will guide transformation and align the digital skills of a sustainable workforce with the future needs of care customers.
The course content empowers care managers to think big about where digital leadership and implementation could take them in their careers and the difference this could make to their care teams and the people they support.
Topics covered include:
Understanding Digital Leadership: Discover what it really means to lead digitally and why it’s so crucial in adult social care.
Technology in Adult Social Care: Get up to speed with current and emerging tech solutions that can revolutionise your team’s work and deliver better experiences and outcomes for those who access your services.
Overcoming Barriers: Identify practical ways to overcome the hurdles of digital adoption in adult social care settings.
Change Management Essentials: Learn to steer successful change without disrupting care quality or your team’s morale.
Leading with Purpose: Understand the difference between transactional and transformational leadership—and why it matters in digital transformation.
Building Digital Champions: Find out how to foster enthusiasm and commitment to digital change within your team.
Data Protection, Cyber Security & Info Governance: Master the essentials to protect your clients and stay compliant in a digital-first world.
Support available to cover training costs
Funding is available as part of The Department of Health and Social Care Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS) for 2025-26, which is administered by NHS-BSA.
Adult social care employers in England can claim eligible staff training costs from the LDSS. This scheme covers all non-regulated care staff, including deputy and Care Quality Commission-registered managers, and agency staff.
The Digital Leadership Programme is eligible for the LDSS and eligible providers can claim £525 per person towards the cost of attending this programme which is £690 per person. Information on eligibility, the claims process, FAQs, and a course list is available on the DHSC web page. For enquiries, email ASCreimbursement@dhsc.gov.uk.
