Today Mindings‘ Stuart Arnott presented against four other shortlisted companies in a Dragons’ Den-style competition, pitching their solutions to the rising costs of adult social care.
As organisers Improvement East, a partnership of all authorities in the East of England, said about the competition
“We have all seen the ‘graph of doom’ showing how the cost of social care will overtake all our budgets – if we are going to face the challenge ahead, as well as deliver better, more personalised services, we need to do things differently and we are looking for innovative solutions to get us there.”
In October, Improvement East launched the competition, in partnership with NHS Midlands and East, to find innovative new products and services that will keep older people out of long-term care, where it’s not necessary or what that individual actually wants.
The Dragons included:
Cllr Colin Noble, Cabinet member at Suffolk County Council
Caroline Tapster, Ex-Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council
Richard Carr, Chief Executive of Central Bedfordshire Council
Alida Farmer, Service Development Manager at NHS Midlands and East
Simon Leftley, Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services at Southend-on-sea Borough Council
Steve Hampson, Area Head (East) at Age UK.
The prize is £100,000 of funding to pilot Mindings within a local integrated health and social care system in the Midlands and East of England.
Cllr Colin Noble, Suffolk County Council, commented that it was Mindings innovative approach to combatting social isolation that won it the prize.
The focus of Stuart’s presentation was his passion in combatting social isolation, and pointing to The Campaign to End Loneliness‘s campaign which this year demonstrated that loneliness has as big an impact on health as smoking and obesity.
Stuart said:
“I’m thrilled that the potential of Mindings has been recognised. My co-developer Ian Pleasance and I are incredibly excited about working with DACS, Age UK and the East of England local authorities to connect families and help combat loneliness and social isolation!”
Read the full story here.
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