Technology Enabled Care (TEC)

TEC can support individuals to meet a range of health and social care outcomes and will be a core priority of our Adult Social Care Strategy prevention and early help approach, supporting people to live independently, staying safe and well.   Technology has become a part of our daily living and in the coming decades, as the population ages we can expect to see an even greater demand from our population for technology to help them maintain their health and independence.

Somerset will take a whole life approach to how people can use technology to support all aspects of their lives – managing health conditions, supporting daily tasks such as preparing a meal or reducing social isolation by video calls to friends / relatives or participating in their local social group.  TEC gives people increased choice and control over their support, whilst also enabling them to live independently. There are also benefits for carers in terms of reassurance and reduced risk of carer breakdown.

There is significant amount of TEC related activity taking place across the Somerset Integrated Care System (ICS) which is formally connected to shape a TEC vision whilst driving operational changes, supporting innovations and monitoring performance.  This group is attended by representatives from the ICS, Somerset NHS Trust, Adults & Childrens Social Care, Libraries and community sector.  We have recently drafted a TEC Strategy to support our vision within the Council which will shortly be available.  This details our ambitions and also explains how TEC will be developed in Somerset through workforce development, promoting TEC to Somerset residents via our Independent Living Centre ‘TEC Lounges’ and Somerset Lifeline to increase the number of people using TEC within Somerset.

Following the Council’s new unitary status, existing internal district Lifeline providers have consolidated their services into a single Lifeline Service for the new authority https://www.somerset.gov.uk/care-and-support-for-adults/somerset-lifeline/   Lifeline services are fundamentally key to any TEC provision as they allow peripheral devices such as pill dispensers or fall detectors to be linked to a monitoring centre which can call a designated individual for response.

At this stage we are not considering commissioning a countywide TEC Service, but focussing on developing our in-house provision along with working with external TEC providers on innovative solutions to meet specific identified outcomes such as managing anxiety through using app based technology.