There’s a question that sits behind almost every conversation about technology and social care. Not “which device?” or “which platform?” but something more fundamental: what needs to change around the technology for it to actually impact lives?
The Care Technologist role was created to answer this very question. Care Technologists aren’t IT engineers. Instead, they work alongside care staff to introduce and embed digital tools and assistive technology – focused as much on culture change as on capability.
“One of the most striking things about the Care Technologist role is how far its influence has travelled,” says James Sinclair, Chief Operating Officer at Care City. His observation points to something the sector needs to understand – and act on – if Future-Ready Care is to become a reality.
Care Tech Revisited
Scottish Care’s original Care Technologist pilot funded dedicated posts across three independent care providers – HRM Homecare in East Ayrshire, Baillieston Community Care in Glasgow, and SRS Homecare in Aberdeen. It generated national and international interest. But what happened when the funding ended?
That is precisely the question that Care Tech Revisited is now setting out to answer. The project returns to those original organisations to understand how the Care Technologist role has evolved in practice – and looks beyond them too, to housing, learning disability services, and Health and Social Care Partnerships who have since adopted elements of the model.
Its aim is to build a clearer picture of what sustainability actually requires: not just whether these roles have continued, but what conditions are needed to embed them, and what remains just out of reach without the right support.
The early findings are instructive.
Care Technologist as catalyst
The evidence from across Scotland and beyond is consistent. Specialist digital roles – care technologists, digital leads, innovation champions – rarely succeed simply by introducing new tools.
Their greatest impact comes from something harder to quantify: building confidence across teams; helping staff recognise where technology can genuinely support the people they care for; and doing the slow, relational work of making change feel safe rather than threatening.
In many organisations, the dedicated post has not continued in exactly its original form. And yet the thinking behind it has remained.
Technology is now being considered at the point of assessment, not retrofitted once care is already in place. Staff have started to recognise, without being prompted, when technology might open up new possibilities for the people they support. The role has acted as a catalyst for organisational change – and that is precisely what Care Tech Revisited is working to understand and sustain.
The gap between ambition and funding structures
Providers can see clear opportunities to use technology to complement visits, support preventative care, and offer new forms of reassurance and connection. But specialist digital roles frequently sit outside existing commissioning frameworks, built around time–and–task care. Organisations sustain them through short–term funding, fundraising, or internal investment – never quite certain the resource will be there next year.
As James points out, “Technology–enabled care requires new ways of thinking about how support is organised and funded.” This matters because what is at stake is not a niche innovation – it is the kind of preventative, person–centred support that could reduce pressure across the whole system.
A people challenge as much as a technical one
Future-ready Care, as set out in the Scottish Care manifesto, isn’t simply about introducing new devices into existing systems. It is about creating the conditions – in commissioning, in workforce development, in cross–sector collaboration – for technology to do what it’s genuinely capable of doing. Care Tech Revisited is one part of building the evidence base to make that case.
What this week is about
This week, Care Creates explores what Future-ready Care looks like when those conditions are in place. The stories, numbers and voices that follow share one thing in common: technology did not do this alone.
Care creates possibility – when we build the right conditions around it.
Care creates confidence – when we invest in people, not just platforms.
Care creates a future-ready Scotland – but only if we design it that way.
Nicola Cooper, Head of Digital Futures, Scottish Care
#CareCreates
