2020 has certainly been a year of challenge and change. Covid-19 has disrupted lives, creating a need to adapt and do things differently.
The way services are provided has also changed. For many organisations this year, it has become a priority to embrace technology and find innovative solutions that enable vital support services to continue.
‘Blended practice’ is a term we are increasingly seeing used to describe the way support is provided. It often used to include the use of digital resources alongside face-to-face interaction, or to describe using different kinds of resources crossing multidisciplinary groups. Feedback from our survey in November confirmed that it can mean lots of different things to different people.
As an organisation specialising in digital resources for families and practitioners working with families, we are keen to understand this more. In a survey of attendees at our recent ‘Me, You and Baby Too’ live demonstration event, 78% of respondents said they are now using digital resources as part of their everyday practice.
Many have seen the inclusion of digital methods in their work as positive for both them and the people they work with, helping to ease workloads and improve the quality of care they can provide. It can enable a more flexible way of working and provide support to suit individual needs.
Whatever the future holds, it looks certain that digital resources and a blended approach to support will play a major role. The opportunities to improve services for the benefit of all are exciting and far reaching.
To explore this further, OnePlusOne is establishing a Blended Practice Working Group, comprising practitioners from across the country, to join a conversation about what blended practice means for the future of support services.
We’ll update our website with further news of this work in the new year. In the meantime, if you’d like to know more about how our resources can help you, please contact us at info@oneplusone.org.uk.
