Feb/Mar 2008

North Yorkshire County Council and Selby District Council have been working together on a care assessment project involving the use of Anoto digital pen technology. The supplier was Anoto partner Ubisys.

The two councils wanted to improve their procedures for assessing older people's care needs under the UK government's Single Assessment Process, which was introduced in 2002.

A trial was conducted last year with transmitting handwritten text in assessment forms from paper to digital media. The results were positive, and now 150 pens are being issued to North Yorkshire Adult and Community services staff, to the housing support agency and to the local NHS Primary Care Trust.

Council workers use two nationally accredited assessment forms to gather information on health and welfare from each individual. Once complete, the information on the form is transferred securely into a shared database via a mobile phone, passing through Ubisys software on its way.

 

The Nokia E50 mobile handsets were provided by Orange for North Yorkshire Adult Services and by T-Mobile for Selby District Council staff.