Pilot to use tech to identify those who could benefit from social care

A pilot which uses technology to help identify individuals that may benefit from social care support has been launched across Merseyside.

The pilot, which has been developed by Liquidlogic and Graphnet, will be launched across three Merseyside local authorities; Knowsley, Liverpool and Wirral.

It will be launched across three Merseyside local authorities: Knowsley, Liverpool and Wirral.

Named the Merseyside Early Support Project, the pilot uses proven technology to read regional data sets from local councils and the population health management system known as CIPHA [Combined Intelligence for Population Health Action]. GPs are then able to identify people who could benefit from earlier referral to social care, thanks to an algorithm which generates an early support score for individuals.

The solution has numerous indicator areas and is configurable, so local authorities can focus their resources on areas marked as a high priority.

Liquidlogic’s managing director, David Grigsby, said: “This sort of early support work is right in the sweet spot of the agenda for Integrated Care Systems. It’s using shared intelligence from across the health and social care community to identify people who need care before their situation deteriorates.

“It can then help to manage and monitor the effectiveness of that care, which is good for the individual and good for the system. It moves us away from reactive management into more proactive early support.”

For example, the solution could highlight an increase in GP or hospital visits, track the length of hospital stays or focus on complex medication plans associated with mobility difficulties or social isolation. It uses this information to help determine the likelihood of a person needing extra support.

If the patient agrees to a referral for extra support, the request is sent automatically through to the social care system and flagged on Liquidlogic’s Adults’ System workflow for early assessment and support. No additional steps are required by GPs, and they simply need to record the outcome.

The range of support that can be put in place is broad, including reablement or homecare packages, without the need for council funding. Care navigation would encourage self-funders to access the appropriate support, before it comes to costly crisis support further down the line. Community resources and social prescribing also form part of the offering.

The news comes in the same year that a new tool from Agilisys was launched, that gives local authorities access to social care data to enable them to proactively plan their resources in the sector.