# Introduction

In this free course, Digital innovation in social care and social work, you will learn about how digital technology has made a difference, both to social care sector and people living in their own communities.

There are many ways in which technology can measure and inform about health and illness, and this course will offer a broader view of how digitalisation can improve the care offered by social services. You will also learn about how incorporating technology in the home and in community settings has a range of benefits to people’s wellbeing and ability to maintain independence in their community setting.

New models of care are driven by the need to create cost-effective and sustainable health and social care services, and in this course you will see some examples of how technology can help create a new model of care (essentially, new ways of doing things in health and social care). However, you will also have to keep in mind some of the challenges, risks and drawbacks of more technology-dependent services in social care.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K102 Introducing health and social care.

OpenLearn - Digital innovation in social care and social work
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