Social care provider wins award for digital transformation 

One of Scotland’s leading charities and social care providers has been awarded a UK Business Tech Award for its work to transform how frontline social care workers use digital and technology. 

ENABLE Scotland, which employs 1,800 frontline staff across Scotland, picked up the award for ‘Transformation Through Technology’ category after demonstrating its digital transformation and the impact it had on frontline social care workers and the people they support.

The award was announced in a virtual ceremony, as well as at the charity’s virtual AGM, which was accessed by over 400 of its members who were able to join in and attend remotely earlier today.

ENABLE Scotland said it has long been committed to the transformation of frontline social care services, including through the use of digital communications.

Commenting on the award, ENABLE Scotland’s group chief executive, Theresa Shearer, said: ‘This award is welcome recognition of the hard work of all of our staff, and especially our frontline workers, to ensure the delivery of high-quality personalised support during a time of great uncertainty and anxiety among the people who work for us and the people we work for.

‘Fortuitously, we decided to invest in digital infrastructure before the current global health crisis, and that is paying dividends now. No one could have predicted the uncertainty brought about by the virus, nor its tight grip on so many aspects of our lives

‘However, the investment and training in digital stand us in good stead to tackle these challenges head-on, as well as providing adequate protections through other measures including personal protective equipment.

‘We thank the judges for recognising the transformative nature of our approach, and the real impact it has, and will continue to have, on people who rely on our social care workforce to support them to live the life they choose.’

The introduction of digital hardware to all frontline staff was completed just before the Covid-19 pandemic, which has meant that staff working across Scotland were able to continue delivering vital services while staying connected.

The judges commended the charity’s approach. Announcing the award, judge Martin Bryant, explained that the panel ‘was impressed by the impact and implementation of this technology to solve a real-world pressing problem in an interesting way while using innovation in a sector that generally has low digital adoption’.

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