The Development of a Care Home Data Platform in Scotland: Insights from the Care Home Innovation Partnership, Lothian

Abstract

Care homes collect a large amount of data about their residents, and the care provided, but there is a lack of consistency in how this information is collected. There is also a need to minimise the burden of data collection on staff, ensure information informs and supports person-centred care, and that this data is then of use to regulatory agencies, policy makers and researchers. We examined the data collected in six Care Homes in Lothian, Scotland. We extracted the meta-data collected, cross-referenced definitions and assessed the degree of current harmonisation between individual care homes and with data sets currently in use in Scotland and internationally. We interviewed the care home managers to identify data collection processes, views and experiences of current data availability, gaps, access and issues of capacity and capability in relation to data management and analytics. Our work has illustrated the scale of the data collected by care homes, the varied formats and heterogeneity of scope and definition. The inventory of 15 core data items that emerged, serves to expose in detail the foundations of care home data sets. The groundwork illuminated the heterogeneity in tools and assessments used to generate the data and the way in which the data is to be used, affects how it is specified and frequency of collection. By making known the reality of how and why care home data is collected, we can understand better the nuances of each individual data item that collectively create a data platform. We make four recommendations for the development of a national care home data platform.

Piloting of a minimum data set for older people living in care homes in England: protocol for a longitudinal, mixed-methods study

“…The lack of harmonisation of indicators means duplication of effort because similar information about residents is recorded in different ways for different uses. 4 Heterogeneity in the frequency of measurement, tools and measures deployed and the mode of recording, 5 makes it difficult to compare or collate data at an aggregate level. Recent estimates suggest that approximately 30%–40% of social care providers in England are still entirely paper based, with another third only partially digital.…”

“…The lack of harmonisation of indicators means duplication of effort because similar information about residents is recorded in different ways for different uses. 4 Heterogeneity in the frequency of measurement, tools and measures deployed and the mode of recording, 5 makes it difficult to compare…”

Foundation Level Barriers to the Widespread Adoption of Digital Solutions by Care Homes: Insights from Three Scottish Studies

“…The Care Home Data Platform [ 22 ] study engaged six care homes within the Lothian region of Scotland to closely examine the data items collected and assessment tools in use for recording resident data. This work was carried out between July 2019 and January 2020, and the methods included reviewing data collection systems and documents, interviews with care home managers and discussions with key Scottish care home data stakeholders.…”

“…The study was carried out between January and June 2021. This work paralleled The Care Home Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Innovation Foundation Challenge [ 24 ], which was built on an earlier study [ 22 ] to assess options for establishing a Care Home Data Platform, as described above.…”

“…The variety of data formats between homes is compounded by the lack of consistency in the assessment tools used to generate the data. The Care Home Data Platform study [ 22 ] found that whilst all care homes record similar information, such as mobility or risk of falls, the tools and assessments used to generate the data items are varied and, therefore, the data is not easily comparable.…”