Kingston Council launches AI tool to free up time for frontline social workers
A new AI tool that saves each frontline social worker at least 4 hours a week by taking admin intensive tasks off their hands is being rolled out by Kingston Council.
The tool is being made available to the council’s social work and occupational therapist practitioners, as it embraces digital technology to support its workforce across the borough.
Called Magic Notes, it is designed and tailored specifically for their work. Early signs are showing that it is saving them up to four hours a week on administrative tasks.
It has been developed by social enterprise, Beam, with extensive input from frontline workers. It uses AI to create reports and case notes from recordings of regular meetings between social workers and their clients.
The tech enables frontline workers to engage in more depth with clients in need, spend more time on face-to-face engagement and takes additional paperwork off their hands.
In a pilot run by Kingston, Magic Notes reduced the time that frontline workers spent on admin tasks by 63%. Following the success of the pilot, Magic Notes is now being rolled out to a further 100 social workers across the council’s Adult Social Care Services.
The Care Act 2014 requires councils to promote individual wellbeing and deliver focused support. By reducing the amount of time spent on admin, social workers and occupational therapists are free to spend more time on person-centred care and face-to-face appointments - and focus their attention on the person receiving support, rather than their notes.
Kingston has seen how Magic Notes has had huge benefits for staff who have dyslexia, as well as supporting staff wellbeing as they handle the competing demands in their work.
Councillor Sabah Hamed, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Public Health at Kingston Council said:
"As a council, we are always looking at how we can deliver a better quality of service to our people who live in our borough. We want to equip our staff with the latest digital technology and confidence to use it, so that they can spend more time with people they work with and ensure they are always at the heart of what we do.”
Helen, Senior Social Worker said:
“I got into social work because I wanted to support people. When I am completing an assessment, review or any other interaction with people I support, Magic Notes allows me to maintain eye contact, listen accurately and critically reflect in the moment and it means that I don't have to worry about taking notes. As well as allowing me to focus on the person, Magic Notes provides me with a really accurate and detailed record and summary for me to review. It frees up time for me to focus on complex cases care, planning and the social workers in the team that I supervise.”
Beam is a social impact company transforming the welfare state through the power of people and technology, including artificial intelligence. The organisation has directly supported more than 4,500 people into homes and jobs, and builds tools to transform frontline productivity.
Seb Barker, Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Beam said:
“We developed Magic Notes because we saw first-hand, from our own team of caseworkers, that frontline workers were tied to their desks by a huge mountain of admin and paperwork. AI gives us the opportunity to free them up to get back on the frontline, where they want to be, and do the most meaningful work.
Magic Notes has been designed with data safety and service user consent at its absolute heart, because it really has been built by social workers, for social workers.”