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March 2023 - Local Government

Majority of councils 'very' or 'fairly' confident about their ability to manage the move to digital telecare: A survey of councils by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Partners in Care and Health (PCH) has revealed that 90% are ‘very’ or ’fairly’ confident about their ability to manage the move to digital telecare with minimal impact on their service and users.

The survey was undertaken to understand the readiness of councils for the digital switchover by asking questions around awareness, planning, and implementation of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN).

Just 10% of councils polled said they were ‘not very confident’ about managing the switchover, which will see the 1.7 million people, who access technology enabled care and support, at risk of being left without a connection.

Surveys were sent out in August 2022, with 59 completed. The findings revealed that in the main, councils are aware of the switchover, and most have plans in place to manage it, with a number already making a start on implementing these plans.

Respondents were asked whether they were aware of the digital shift on telecare services with around three-quarters stating they were 'fully aware', while just a quarter said they had 'some awareness'. No respondents were unaware of the impact.

When asked how they would describe their planning and readiness for having a digital-ready telecare solution, 22% said they have a digital solution in place already, while almost a third (32%) said they were currently putting a digital-ready solution in place. A further 15% said they have a plan for a solution developed, but not yet implemented, while 20% said early stage planning has been completed. Just 3% said they did not have a plan currently.

Respondents were also asked about their understanding of the costs to move to digital telecare, with 27% saying they have an understanding and have obtained the funding required to make the move, while a quarter said they understand but have not yet secured the funding to do so (25%). A further 27% said that they did not yet understand the funding required (27%), while one in five had an 'other' response.

When asked how they plan to fund the move to digital telecare, 39% said they did not know, while 34% said they will find it from council budgets. A smaller proportion of councils said they will fund it using a combination of council funding and increases to service user charges (8%).

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