During a recent session of the Health and Social Care Select Committee in the House of Commons, the lower house of the UK Parliament, PainChek® was highlighted as a leading digital innovation in social care. This was the first evidence session held by the committee as part of its inquiry into the cost of inaction on social care reform.
This inquiry follows the Fairer Care Funding report, which was released 14 years ago and underscored the need for reform in the UK’s social care funding system. The Health and Social Care Committee will review how failing to adequately reform social care could impact the Government’s ability to deliver on its pledges. This sits alongside the Labour Government’s plan to establish a National Care Service during its tenure.
The session featured evidence from Sir Andrew Dilnot CBE, Chair of Commission on Funding of Care and Support, Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow (Social Care) at King’s Fund, and Kathryn Smith OBE, Chief Executive at Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).
Common themes emerged during the hearing regarding the causes of inaction, including a lack of visibility of the crisis amongst the public, the removal of the health and social care levy, and the lack of integration between health and social care.
The discussion turned to the role of innovation in transforming the sector, with attendees asked to consider what innovations are currently available and could be scaled rapidly with additional funding for social care.
Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive of SCIE, referenced PainChek® in her commentary, highlighting its positive impact as a digital innovation in social care. She explained:
“I have been looking at innovations quite a lot over the last couple of years. At the moment SCIE is supporting the Government’s accelerating reform fund, which is supporting local areas to innovate in their areas. It is fairly early on, but we are seeing lots of innovations in things like shared lives schemes, digital technology and things like that.
“A couple of the ones that I have specifically been out to see are based on digital. One is using a digital app called PainChek, which uses artificial intelligence to scan a person’s face. It is specifically for people that have a cognitive impairment and cannot communicate how they are feeling—for example, if they are in pain. This will tell the carer if the person is in pain. It will give them the right set of questions to ask to find out what kind of pain and what support they need.
“This app is not being used on its own; it has been combined with a different care model that has a higher level of training, the staff are paid more, and there are higher numbers of staff.
“In the instance that I went out to see, this is specifically targeted at people with dementia. What they have found is that these people are no longer on neuroleptic drugs, not on drugs that are managing their challenging behaviour, because they do not have challenging behaviour anymore; their pain and their behavioural symptoms are being managed well, and they are being well cared for. They have also found a reduction in costs relating to medication and to coming in and out of hospital, because these people are no longer going in and out of hospital.
“Ultimately and most important, people have a better quality of life. You can see this vividly when you look at the service.”
Kathryn’s observations are mirrored by significant positive clinical outcomes reported by PainChek clients in the UK, stemming from improved identification of pain, leading to accurate, personalised treatment. These include:
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- Fewer antipsychotic drugs being used
- Fewer benzodiazepines being used (which can cause a decline in cognition and balance)
- A reduction in falls
- A reduction in hospital admissions
- A reduction in safeguarding incidents
- A reduction in stress and distress
These positive outcomes demonstrate how PainChek directly contributes to improving care and quality of life for those in the social care system.
To learn more about the real-world impacts of PainChek, visit our Case Studies.
To learn more about how PainChek® could enable best-practice pain management within your organisation, book a one-on-one session with a member of our team.
