Vicky Sargent
Friday, February 18, 2022
18:02 GMT
Vicky is one of the creators of CLGdotTV, where she also produces and presents programmes. She has 25 years experience of delivering projects in and for public sector organisations including government departments, local authorities, the NHS, and professional associations. Much of her work has been around digitally-enabled innovation and improvement.
@vickysargentLocal health & care collaboration delivers for online directories
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Online directories have been an important feature of localgov websites since implementation of the Care Act of 2014.
Under the Act, councils are required to provide information, advice and guidance to their populations about care and support services for people with social care needs.
More recently, local service directories have been commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Groups and Primary Care Networks to support NHS-funded social prescribing link workers.
But these directories are maintained separately across council and PCN boundaries - with massive duplication of tax-funded effort and software development - and people's experiences of using them are often poor, or at least frustrating.
This video tells the story of an approach that could be adopted in any geographical footprint. Funded by Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership and supported by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and BURNLEY, PENDLE & ROSSENDALE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE, this pilot project addresses many of the reasons local service directories haven't worked in the past.
The outcome has come about partly through deployment of technology, using open data standards and APIs endorsed by the UK Data Standards Authority, in a solution led by Digital Gaps and delivered in partnership with Digital Coproduction and Placecube.
But local collaboration between health, care and voluntary sectors, enabled by a properly integrated approach, is also a bit part of the story.
