Elly Yates-Roberts |
Agilisys has launched the Social Care Cost and Demand Modelling Solution, which is designed to allow local authorities to assess the impact of social care.
The modelling solution can take the disparate data captured by a local authority and apply it to potential scenarios. It illustrates the services being delivering and at what cost per person, helping the local authority decide where to target their spending.
“Unfortunately, the growing demand and cost of social care isn’t going to go down; certainly not without major long-term structural change,” said Chris Hyde, principal consultant for data strategy and insight at Agilisys. “Therefore, we need to think about flattening the curve to make sure that excess demand, although still present, is being mitigated by concerted efforts to lessen dependency and reduce institutionalisation.”
According to Agilisys, 82 per cent of local authorities overspend on children’s social care and a further 47 per cent are overspending on adult care. The solution is intended to reduce this overspend by informing funding decisions based on modelling outcomes.
“For me, the most effective way forward is to engage with the data and then learn from one another,” said Hyde. “It is, therefore, important to not only use solutions such as our Social Care Cost and Demand model but shift the culture to encourage trust in data throughout the organisation to support forward-thinking decision-making.”