Care homes for older people in Southeast Scotland are largely run using paper-based management systems, a new study into the sector’s digital readiness has revealed.

Only one in three (35%) used an electronic care management system and only two in five (43%) used an electronic system or software to manage medication.

Most care homes were also dogged by poor connectivity. Only two in five in Southeast Scotland (42%) described their internet connection as “good” with fast loading of content and no interruptions.

And nearly two-thirds (58%) of the care homes which provided information reported that remote electronic access to resident information was not possible for any key health and community-based professionals.

The findings emerged from a study led by Lucy Johnston from Edinburgh Napier’s School of Health & Social Care, who said fast connectivity, capacity for data capture and information sharing capabilities were “limited and unevenly dispersed”.

Calling for more support and coordinated resources for the sector, she concluded: “This targeted assessment of data and digital readiness exposes the fragile and insecure foundations of a care home data platform for Scotland. The findings confirm that care homes are only in the foothills of what is a complex, vast landscape where the direction of travel is rightly ambitious and therefore uphill and the pace is fast.

“To ensure care homes are not left behind, they require a trusted, well-informed and certain national and local route map, secure ties to the new and developing infrastructures and continued integration of health and social care services.”

Carried out from July 2021 to January 2022, the research drew on information from 55% of the 200 registered residential care homes for older people in Edinburgh, Fife, the Lothians and the Scottish Borders, collected through an online survey, direct contact and additional research.

A third of homes gave the cost of introducing digital systems as a reason why they remain paper-based. More than two-thirds (69%) which are currently paper-based did plan to introduce electronic care management systems in the next 12 months, but these were overwhelming privately rather than local authority-owned.

The study suggested that what will primarily drive increases in digital capabilities may be the investment decisions of larger group providers.

Professor Bruce Guthrie, director of the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC) said: “Improving access to, and making better use of, data is a core aim of what we are trying to achieve at the ACRC. Covid-19 brutally exposed how invisible care home residents are in data, and supporting the care home sector to develop their digital capacity is an important step in meeting this aim, which will, in turn, lead to improvements for care home residents. This study helpfully illustrates the scale of the challenge in care homes.”