Both sides of care: what losing my sight taught me. | EP. 16 w/ Jon Healy

Both sides of care: what losing my sight taught me. | EP. 16 w/ Jon Healy

Jon Healy spent 20 years as a carer. A year ago, a medical episode took most of his sight, and overnight his life was radically altered. In this episode he talks about what that taught him. The everyday accessibility tools that turned out to be a lifeline. The job he can still do, just differently. And the surprising ways AI has opened up new work rather than just speeding up the old. We get into the co-produced course his service users led, which snowballed into a graduation, a recipe book, a book club and a regular quiz. The practical AI wins, from a traffic-free walking route to a World Cup planner built for people who find reading hard. And his honest, measured take on where AI helps in care and where the human has to stay in charge. Jon also shares the moment AI found a 1981 legal precedent and resolved a tribunal case without a hearing. A warm, grounded conversation about care, technology and seeing the world differently. Timestamps 00:00 Jon's story, 20 years in care 01:13 Losing his sight, and relearning everything 02:33 The accessibility setup that keeps him working 08:00 A new perspective: becoming an advocate 10:47 The course that snowballed into a graduation 17:41 How AI actually gets used, day to day 21:37 Advocacy at Parliament, and why care is undervalued 29:46 Where AI could go wrong in care 33:36 What good training looks like 35:31 The 1981 case law that won a tribunal   About David Mance David Mance is an independent AI trainer and consultant, and the founder of AI in Social Care. He helps UK care providers adopt AI safely and effectively. Find out more at https://aiinsocialcare.com/ [https://aiinsocialcare.com/]

Your care staff are already better at AI than you think | EP. 15 w/ Katie Thorn

Most conversations about AI and the care workforce focus on risk, resistance, and what staff don't know. Katie Thorn, Head of Innovation at Digital Care Hub, makes the opposite argument: care workers already have the skills AI needs most. In this episode, we talk about why communication and empathy are actually an advantage with large language models, the real reason a template AI policy doesn't exist yet, and what the government's "fully digitised by 2029" plan doesn’t go far enough. Katie is also co-founder of the AI and Social Care Alliance – and we cover how that came about, the gender gap in care, job displacement fears, and what frontline workers really think about AI investment. In this episode: 01:06 – What Digital Care Hub does (and what it doesn't) 04:07 – How the AI and Social Care Alliance came about 08:47 – Where to go if you want to get up to speed 10:01 – Communication skills as prompting skills 16:37 – Women are 20% more likely to live in digital poverty – and they're 85% of your workforce 19:00 – What a frontline worker said at the first Alliance roundtable 21:09 – Could AI job losses be a recruitment opportunity for care? 24:09 – Why Digital Care Hub hasn’t published a template AI policy (yet) 27:46 – Making AI governance work at board level 34:31 – What good employer-led AI training actually looks like 37:15 – Katie's background: growing up in a nursing home 40:27 – The expensive lesson from picking the wrong tech system 45:45 – Why "fully digitised by 2029" doesn't go far enough Katie links https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/ [https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk] Podcast: Control Plus Care: https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/podcast/ [https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/podcast/%C2%A0] AI in Care Alliance: https://aiincarealliance.co.uk/ [https://aiincarealliance.co.uk/] [COMING SOON] David Mance – CPD-certified AI trainer and consultant for the social care sector. Get resources and tutorials: https://aiinsocialcare.com/ [https://aiinsocialcare.com/]

80% of Care Providers Are Small – Here's How They Can Make AI Work For Them | EP. 14 w/ Samir Patel

Small providers make up 80% of the care home market, yet when it comes to technology and AI, they're often the last to get support. In this episode, I sit down with Samir Patel – care home owner, operator, and founder of the Care Home Digi Hive community – to talk about his 20-year journey from paper chaos to practical AI implementation. Samir shares the lightbulb moments that pushed him toward tech, the £25,000 mistake that taught him everything about change management, and why he believes care homes should start with "back office" AI before touching resident data. Whether you're a startup or a large provider, this conversation is packed with hard-won lessons on making technology work without overwhelming your team. Find out more about the Digihive community: https://www.carehomedigihive.com/ [https://www.carehomedigihive.com/] Samir's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-patel-07684912/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-patel-07684912/] Samir's podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iCareServicesUK/featured [https://www.youtube.com/@iCareServicesUK/featured] And on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKDdIwu5H9ke3dYOPdfu4?si=34c25c9a3559497a&nd=1&dlsi=c30ae3c960dc4482 [https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKDdIwu5H9ke3dYOPdfu4?si=34c25c9a3559497a&nd=1&dlsi=c30ae3c960dc4482] David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/] AIinSocial Care tutorials, podcast and more: https://aiinsocialcare.com/ [https://aiinsocialcare.com/]

Are We Choosing Care Tech All Wrong? | EP. 13 w/ Paul Shanahan

Most care technology does what it says on the tin. It functions, ticks boxes, completes tasks. But somewhere in the process of evaluating, procuring and implementing tech, something often gets lost – the relationships that make care actually work. In this episode, I speak with Paul Shanahan, a clinical lead and behaviour analyst turned part-time coder, who's been wrestling with this challenge. Paul shares the thinking behind his Relational Care Tool, which is built on real research with service users, carers and care organisations. It helps teams evaluate technology not just on functionality, but on whether it enriches the human experience of care. We also talk about his digital health passport project, which is tackling one of the most frustrating and overlooked problems in care transitions: the outdated, easily lost, 12-page paper document that's supposed to tell a busy A&E team everything they need to know about a person with complex needs. If you've ever sat in a procurement meeting and thought "There must be a better way" then this episode is for you. Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjshanahan/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjshanahan/] Relational Care custom GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6984b31aadb08191a86b25d8a40c1afd-tech-for-relational-care [https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6984b31aadb08191a86b25d8a40c1afd-tech-for-relational-care] Listen to more interviews and watch free AI in care tutorials: https://aiinsocialcare.com/ [https://aiinsocialcare.com/]

How One Small Care Group Got AI Right (Without a Tech Team) | EP. 12 w/ Kevin Humphrys

What does it actually take to make AI work in a care setting?   In this episode of AI in Social Care, I sit down with Kevin Humphrys, CEO of Oakland Care Group – a two-home provider that’s quietly doing some of the most thoughtful, practical AI implementation I’ve seen.   No outsourced transformation project. No shiny tools for the sake of it. Just a leadership team willing to start with principles, and adjust the plan as they go.   Here’s what stood out: – They didn’t wait to have it all figured out. They started with 5 rules. – Staff now build their own AI agents – including senior care staff. Not because they were “techy”, but because they saw the value. – Care planning went from 4 hours to 20 minutes – with better oversight, not less. – They spotted bias the hard way – and built systems to catch it next time. – Most importantly: they’re not using AI to cut corners. They’re using it to give staff time back.   If you're in a care leadership role and feel like you're already behind on AI, you're not. But the gap will grow quickly in 2026 – and this episode shows what it looks like to start where you are, with what you’ve got. Resources Kevin's Gen AI Governance template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yx6CSQe5y0bAuNWx9Ong7mOxdeZXm_U6/view?usp=drive_link [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yx6CSQe5y0bAuNWx9Ong7mOxdeZXm_U6/view?usp=drive_link] 📄 Free starter resources at frankcaremarketing.com   #AIinCare #CareSector #SocialCareLeadership #CarePlanning #SocialCareTech