NHS Digital Social Care Pathfinders Programme (2019-2021): Improving Outcomes for People with Learning Disabilities
Funded by NHS Digital, the NHS Digital Social Care Pathfinders Programme aims to identify and develop national information standards to support information sharing between health and social care. Hft’s Personalised Technology team worked as lead partner with Maldaba, developer of Hear Me Now, initially piloting the use of the app with a group of people we support in Devon.
Hear Me Now is a digital application for use by people with learning disabilities and/or autism. It enables the person to record important things about their lives in a variety of easy to use ways (photos, videos etc.) and can provide them with information to help them with daily routines. It can also be used to communicate likes, dislikes, needs and hopes to everyone involved in supporting them.
The pilot proved successful which led to our success in obtaining further funding to continue with the second phase of the project, to enhance and roll out the app at scale, while keeping the user-centred approach to adoption a central theme. The roll out included Hertfordshire County Council and other support providers across Hertfordshire including Mind and Dimensions, and took place from January 2020 to January 2021. Our work also included working with the Professional Records Standards Body (PRSB) to help inform the new ‘About Me’ information standard, one of a number of national standards for sharing information between health and social care. You can read more about this work at Digital Social Care Final Report. Hear Me Now includes an About Me section that is compliant with the PRSB About Me information standard.
The Bayswater Institute was commissioned to undertake an independent evaluation of the project which focused on two themes. What adoption process was necessary to enable the clients of care providers to use Hear Me Now and what benefits were achieved. Read the report
