The social care sector has come on leaps and bounds in recent years when it comes to digital transformation, and of course artificial intelligence (AI), while it’s not yet widely adopted throughout the care sector, has been playing its part in shaping its future.
So, with well-known tools like ChatGPT taking the world by storm, questions rise as to how AI can truly impact care organisations and the people they support. Because while tools like ChatGPT might seem useful, you can’t be sure that your sensitive care data is remaining private to your organisation when you use unauthorised AI.
We’re going to be looking at how social care AI can benefit the sector.
What are the benefits of AI in care?
Social care is all about people—supporting individuals, improving lives, and building connections. But there’s no denying the challenges the sector faces, from growing pressures on resources to ensuring quality care in the face of growing demand. This is where AI can play a significant supporting role, bringing real, tangible benefits for your employees and the people you support:
1. Boosting efficiency
AI tools can take on the admin-heavy tasks for your busy teams, such as report building or data analytics, or even help guide them through your existing workflows to get to the end result more quickly and accurately. This then means that both your care facing, and back-office employees can reclaim precious time to focus on their other core priorities.
For instance, social care AI could sift through mountains of data and find patterns, summarise care notes and even recommend actions to take based off the information it has been given within a matter of seconds, compared to the hours it could take to manually work through the same amount of data.
Then there’s communication; AI can handle routine questions your employees may have. Perhaps you’re onboarding a host of new team members for a new care location. They could, for example, use AI to refresh themselves of their annual leave entitlements at any time, without having to wait for your HR team to get back to them.
AI’s efficiency may play a backstage role, but its ripple effects directly impact every function across your care organisation. And with this extra support, it can mean more resources can be directed towards what truly matters—offering high-quality, compassionate care.
2. Ensuring person-centred care
Another benefit of AI in care is how it can help you ensure person-centred care delivery. Rather than providing generic recommendations, generative AI in care can truly understand a person’s abilities, care goals, and preferences so you can instantly see what care they need and how your service can provide it.
Some AI in care examples might include; being able to analyse care data over time, or comparing past records with current information, taking all this into account to help develop and adjust bespoke care plans for every individual you support.
AI can even be used to predict future needs by tracking patterns in data. This could mean spotting early warning signs of potential issues and highlighting these as flags for your care team to address proactively, rather than reactively.
But of course, any AI embraced by the care sector needs to be incredibly secure as it likely will handle highly sensitive data, such as care plans, that simply cannot be accessible to the public.
3. Enhanced monitoring
Many care providers work around-the-clock, so of course, you need your systems to be able to keep up. AI can be trained on masses amounts of your most up-to-date information, helping to ensure you’re making the right decisions at the right time.
Having this kind of real-time tracking can mean more independence for your clients and proactive planning for your organisation.
That’s because AI can help to highlight subtle behaviour changes that might otherwise go unnoticed. Perhaps a client is suddenly skipping meals, sleeping poorly, or becoming more withdrawn; AI can pick up on these patterns, offering early clues that something could be wrong. These insights could be a game-changer, especially in social care where early intervention can often make a huge difference.
And for your service, it could mean being able to effectively monitor your resources or shortfalls, so you can make decisions now to help support your organisation for the future.
4. Empowering care teams
AI isn’t here to replace your care workers; it’s here to empower them. And it’s vital that AI tools are intuitive and easy to use, so your care teams can reap the rewards of the platform without having to navigate more challenges.
When it comes to making decisions in the moment, social care AI can offer some much needed support. Say a client’s condition shifts unexpectedly; AI tools could provide tailored recommendations on how to respond, perhaps giving your newer care teams the confidence to take next steps. AI could also help when summarising care notes, benefiting your employees who may struggle with writing or are using their non-native language.
Knowledge access also plays a role, as we’ve briefly mentioned already. Perhaps a care worker needs quick clarification on a particular type of care or policy change. AI can instantly pull up the latest research or best practices, saving time and allowing your busy teams to be more self-sufficient in their role.
5. Optimising cost
The benefits of AI in care aren’t about being able to do more; it’s about doing things smarter. And with financial sustainability an increasingly critical topic in the care sector, AI could offer a valuable lifeline.
As we’ve already touched upon, by automating admin and navigating patterns, it can help you better optimise your resources by redirecting or focusing your efforts to those priority areas. For organisations managing tight budgets, this balance can be critical. Plus, having this extra support could even help reduce staff turnover, saving on recruitment and onboarding costs.
Another key benefit of AI is its scalability. Whether you’re supporting 100 people or 1,000, AI solutions can adapt to you, meaning you only pay for what you need.
OneAdvanced AI for care
AI in care is no longer a far off ambition for the future; it’s set to become an increasingly valuable tool for many social care providers today. From improving administrative efficiency to enhancing decision making, the benefits of AI in care are clear.
And of course, the use of AI in care isn’t about replacing the human touch. It’s about preserving what makes care personal, while making the process smoother, safer, and more sustainable.
That’s why we developed OneAdvanced AI, the first UK hosted private LLM (Large Language Model) for businesses. OneAdvanced AI is a private and secure AI model following Business Grade Identity and Privacy management, so you can confidently understand and analyse your data without it ever leaving your organisation.
Speak with our care team today to see just how you can start your AI journey, and pave the way for a more innovative, person-centred, and efficient approach to care.
FAQs
What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that perform tasks that usually require humans. AI helps to analyse data, make decisions, and even predict future outcomes.
What is generative AI?
Generative AI, or gen AI, is a branch of artificial intelligence designed to produce new and relevant outputs based on what it is trained on, such as documents, images, or videos.
What is LLM?
LLM stands for Large Language Model. It’s a type of generative AI designed to understand and produce human-like text. Being trained on large amounts of data, LLMs can answer questions, write content, and even engage in conversations.
