Digital social care

Get to know the digital social care team and our roles in supporting improvement across the sector. This section explains who we are, what we do, and how we can help services build confidence and capability with digital technology.

Nicky Cronin, senior improvement advisor (digital social care)

Before taking up this post, I worked in the Care Inspectorate’s children and young people inspection team, PDA delivery team, and methodology. I am passionate about human rights and recently worked with colleagues, publishing an exploration paper on distance placements in Scotland. After graduating with a degree in Electronic Engineering and a postgraduate diploma in E-Commerce technology, I worked in the Electronics sector until 2002. Changing career, I qualified as a social worker and worked for Glasgow City Council for 10 years, where I also trained as a practice teacher. I worked initially in youth justice and later in children and families. Whilst practising as a social worker, I also worked for Glasgow Caledonian University's social work department for several years. Since joining the Care Inspectorate, I’ve completed the internal verifiers award for the PDA in Scrutiny and Improvement practice, Agile Project management certification, and the Scottish Improvement Leadership course (ScIL). I am currently writing a research proposal for an MPhil, focused on digital implementation in social care.

Candice Aitken, improvement advisor

Candice Aitken plays a key role in supporting the digital transformation of social care services, helping them become more digitally enabled and person-centred. Since joining the digital social care team, she has undertaken specialist training in Service Design and Agile Project Management, equipping her with the tools to lead change in a collaborative, iterative, and user-focused way.

Her work involves developing resources, campaigns and guidance that promote digital confidence and capability across the sector. By applying service design principles, Candice ensures that solutions are co-created with stakeholders and grounded in real-world needs. Her Agile training supports the programme’s ability to adapt quickly, deliver value early, and continuously improve based on feedback. Candice’s contributions are helping shape a more inclusive, responsive, and digitally confident social care landscape.

Explore our current and recent digital improvement projects. These initiatives showcase how we are working with partners and care services to test new approaches, share learning and support the safe, effective use of digital tools in social care.

Annual return questions analysis

In partnership with the digital social care programme lead, and the Care Inspectorate’s intelligence team, we developed a range of digital technology questions for the Care Inspectorate’s annual return request to all registered services. These responses have been analysed to provide important sector insights on digital social care. See our annual return findings from 2022-2023 here.

There has been a rise in digital leads - specialists who champion the use of technology to improve care, empower staff, and enhance outcomes for people who use services. See our annual return findings for 2024.

Increasing involvement of children and young people in regulated care inspections (using technology)

Aligned to the Care Inspectorate’s Promise workstream 1, the overall aim of this project is to improve how involved and informed children and young people feel in our inspection feedback process. To achieve this, we tested feedback to children and young people post inspection. This involved both face-to-face, video and poster methods of feedback. Here is an example of inspection feedback via video feedback 

In recent months, we have presented findings from phase 1 and 2 to a range of internal and external stakeholders. Having taken a quality improvement approach, we are able to evidence improvement through the data measured and gathered from participants.  The Care Inspectorate is committed to further testing and upscale of this approach in the children and young people scrutiny team. There has also been interest from scrutiny colleagues in adults, complaints and early learning and childcare inspection teams.  

PainChek

PainChek is an app based solution for the assessment and management of pain. The aim of this project is to test the value of using facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence to assess pain in people who cannot reliably self-report. Funded by the Scottish Governments TEC programme, phase 1 facilitated a small-scale test, producing six months test data from four care homes for older people.  

Improving digital social care: Scrutiny and inspection

We are embarking on a phase of engagement with scrutiny inspection teams. We will be consulting inspectors, promoting digital resources and sharing good practice examples. We will also work with methodology to ensure when reviewing the Care Inspectorate’s inspection quality frameworks we increase our focus on the person-centred use of technology to ensure the best outcomes for people.  

Professional Development Award (PDA) in Scrutiny and improvement practice (SCQF 10 for SSSC registration)

We plan to provide regular input and engagement on digital social care with inspectors undertaking this qualification. This includes digital for scrutiny activity (virtual inspection elements, digital information exchange etc.) and to develop inspector confidence in digital conversations and evaluating care providers use of technology to support outcomes for people. 

Access guidance, tools, research and good practice materials related to digital social care. This section brings together useful documents to support services in strengthening digital readiness, culture, safety and practice.

Good practice guide

This document is general good practice guide and applicable to all service types across early learning and childcare, children and young people and adult services. Watch the launch webinar, including presentations from the SSSC and the care sector, below.

Digital self-evaluation toolkit

• Portrait
• Landscape

•  Presentation slides

Webinar - 21 January 2025

• Presentation slides

AI in social care webinar

Digital capabilities and skills are essential for making the most out of the technology that is playing an increasingly important role in health and social care.

Use the Digital Capabilities Assessment and the personal report to:

• Better understand your digital skills
• Gain a sense of your strengths and weaknesses
• Identify potential areas for future learning that may be of value professionally

About the assessment - This survey is being conducted on behalf of Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities COSLA) and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) as part of their commitment to using digital technology for a better, more efficient health and social care sector in Scotland. Completing the survey takes around 15 minutes. By default, participation is anonymous (you can change this later if you want to).

The information collected will help those national organisations set realistic goals and priorities for the whole health and care sector. Additionally, the information will help health and social care organisations assess and manage their digital transformation efforts.

When you complete the survey, you’ll be offered a personal report on your survey responses for download, which you can use to review your digital skills and identify whether there are areas you’d like to learn more about.

The survey contains questions about the digital devices you might use, how you feel about the internet and being online, and about systems and other digital tools you might use at work. You will not be asked for any personal or protected information.

Are you an SSSC registrant? Completing the survey along with a brief reflection demonstrates continuous professional learning. By doing so, you can apply for the SSSC Digital Capabilities Assessment MyLearning Open Badge. This badge is awarded to individuals who have completed the survey and reflected on their learning. It can also contribute towards your continuous professional learning (CPL). Your report will contain a link to this - please make sure you download it when you’ve finished the survey.