Herefordshire Council's new social care case management system, Frameworki, came into operation as planned this week and is now being used by almost 400 social care professionals to underpin their daily work.
This is a result of months of diligent preparation to ensure a successful transition to the new system. The project involved more than 30 workshops to design the use of the system, 25 road shows to promote it to staff and training for 400 social workers to ensure effective operation from day one.
The new system will give social workers access to up-to-date and comprehensive information, helping them to make good decisions in the best interests of service users. Internal authorisations will be faster and more robust as a result of the progress removal of paper-based processes and managers will have access to better information on the status of all open cases, enabling a much enhanced ability to maintain accurate and reliable records of the authority's interventions.
This is the first major project to be delivered under the Herefordshire Connects programme.
Councillor Philip Price, cabinet member for ICT, education and performance, said: "We are delighted that this new system has come into operation on schedule. As well as all the development work that has taken place, to train such a large number of people in a relatively short timescale is a significant achievement.
"As well as reducing operating costs in the long term, Frameworki will help to provide closer links between the council, PCT and other agencies who work with children and adults in the social care system. With more reliable and consistent records available, decision making will be quicker and more robust."