January 14th 2026
Innovation is a word we hear a lot in adult social care. New technologies, smarter use of data and new ways of working all promise better outcomes for people drawing on care, reduced pressure on staff and more joined-up services.
But what works – and what evidence do we have?
As part of our Digital Care in Focus theme on innovation this January, we’ve been looking at some recent research and evaluation on digital technology and data use in adult social care.
Where the evidence is strongest
Across multiple studies and evaluations, one message is consistent: technology can improve outcomes, but impact depends far more on how it is used than on the technology itself. Tools work best when they support professional judgement, improve information flow and are embedded into everyday practice.
Falls prevention: clear impact with measurable results
Falls prevention is the area with more robust and quantifiable evidence.
A real-world validation study across 32 care homes, Reducing care home falls: real-world data validation of a multifactorial digital application (Neiva Ganga et al., 2023), found that care homes using a digital, multifactorial falls prevention approach experienced significantly fewer falls than comparison homes. The reduction applied to both total falls and injurious falls, pointing to meaningful improvements in day-to-day safety.
An independent evaluation, Vitalerter: independent real-world evaluation (Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria, 2023), reported a 50% reduction in falls in participating care homes. It also found a significant reduction in unnecessary overnight staff turning checks, suggesting benefits not only for safety but also for staff workload and residents’ comfort.
Practice-based evidence reinforces these findings. In one six-month trial shared by the Digital Care Hub, a care home reported a 50% reduction in falls after introducing proactive sensor technology. While this is not a controlled research study, it provides valuable real-world insight into what can be achieved when technology is well embedded into daily care routines.
Using care home data to reduce hospital use
Some of the strongest outcome data relates to care homes using digital tools to capture structured observations and share them with clinical teams.
A large UK retrospective cohort study, The impact of digital technology in care homes on unplanned secondary care usage and costs (Garner et al., 2024), analysed data from over 8,700 care home residents, linking care home records with NHS hospital data. The study found that use of a digital escalation and remote clinical triage system was associated with:
- 11% fewer emergency department attendances
- 25% fewer emergency hospital admissions
- 11% shorter hospital stays for residents who were admitted
The study also showed a 28% month-on-month reduction in length of hospital stay over time for residents using the system, suggesting sustained impact rather than a short-term effect.
Digital care planning in home care
There is also emerging quantitative evidence from domiciliary care.
A UK retrospective cohort study, A retrospective cohort study evaluating the association between implementation of a digital care plan and hospitalisation rates (Windle et al., 2023), found that introducing digital care planning was associated with a 45% reduction in hospital admissions within the first 30 days of care. This suggests that better visibility of care needs and earlier recognition of change can help prevent avoidable escalation at the start of a care package.
Where innovation runs ahead of research
Not all innovation comes with headline figures – and that matters.
For technologies supporting independence at home, such as non-intrusive monitoring, the evidence base is still developing. Qualitative studies and real-world examples consistently report earlier identification of changes in daily routines and increased reassurance for families and carers. However, large-scale studies measuring impacts on hospital use or long-term outcomes remain limited.
This reflects a wider challenge in adult social care. Many innovations are personalised, home-based and relational, making them harder to evaluate using traditional research methods. In practice, adoption often moves faster than formal evaluation, making it important to track emerging evidence alongside implementation.
What the evidence tells us about successful innovation
Across the research some consistent patterns emerge. Digital innovation is most effective when it:
- supports professional judgement rather than replacing it
- focuses on real risks such as falls or deterioration
- improves information flow between people, teams and organisations
- is embedded into everyday care practice
- is co-produced with people drawing on care, unpaid carers and frontline staff
National research such as Shaping change together: co-producing innovation in social care (SCIE, 2025) shows that co-produced digital innovation is far more likely to be trusted, adopted and sustained.
Encouraging innovation – with evidence in mind
Innovation in social care isn’t about chasing the next big thing. It’s about using evidence, experience and imagination together – and building what works, step by step.
What’s next?
If you’re interested in care-led innovation join our upcoming webinar 0n 28 January: Care-led innovation: celebrating home-grown technology in social care
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