Content

RESOLVED:
 

That Cabinet notes
progress made to date to review current pilot
technologies.
That Cabinet notes
benchmarking and profiling of our service, including our need to
improve outcomes tracking and benefits realisation
approaches.
That Cabinet agrees
our strategic ambition for developing technology enabled care and
homes (TECH).
That Cabinet approves
our commissioning and procurement approach
That Cabinet approves
our priority areas and phasing of technology roll out to support
staff with culture growth and technology adoption.
That Cabinet agrees
the financial investment required for first 2 years of
delivery.
That Cabinet notes
the intention to return to Cabinet in 2026 to set out 5 to 10-year
strategic delivery plan and strategy.

 
Reasons for decisions:
 
Whilst benefits have
already been achieved through our current TECH offer in Surrey,
there is considerable opportunity for greater growth and benefits
realisation. This paper sets out a more ambitious delivery model
with clear commissioning and procurement approaches that maximise
opportunity and reduce risk to the Council.
 
Our recent review of
the current offer has highlighted some key focus areas. We must
improve our internal processes and enable easier identification of
TECH solutions. We must also improve our systems and outcomes
tracking if we are to be able to demonstrate TECH benefits more
quickly and clearly.
 
Our strategic ambition
is to embed TECH as a core part of social care delivery. By
demonstrating outcomes more clearly, we will be better placed to
identify future investment from partners to grow our offer and
align with other TECH, AI and digital programmes. We will also
develop a strong self-funder and front door offer for
residents.
 
With no new funding we
must target our core delivery of TECH to the areas of highest need
and greatest impact. Prioritisation will therefore be based upon
corporate transformation, demand management and high-cost
areas.
 
Prioritisation is also
key to ensuring staff can be supported to embed the culture growth
required to see TECH succeed. Members shared that they felt TECH
would fail if it was to be used everywhere, with all staff from the
start. A recent review demonstrated staff knowledge and confidence
was generally low across the organisation and varied considerably
from team to team across Surrey. Positively, the majority of staff
spoken to so far seem excited about TECH and want to engage so we
must use this interest to progress.
 
The Contract
Management Advisory Service (CMAS) were asked to support the TECH
team to assess the options for the provision of TECH in Surrey.
Commissioning, operations, IT&D, finance and the TECH team were
involved in the process. Three options, detailed later in this
paper, were explored with one preferred and recommended to help
further our ambition.
 
Given the above we
intend to outsource a core commissioned service for a minimum of
two years. This will allow us to gather more robust data and
evidence to develop a better offer for TECH with greater evidence
of staff learning and engagement. The recommendation for a
longer-term strategy is based upon national comparators and
benefits realisation timeframes.
 
(The
decisions on this item can be call-in by the Adults and Health
Select Committee)