by Mark DrinkwaterA recent article about the benefits of social workers using tablet computers such as Apple iPads in their jobs sparked a discussion among colleagues about advances in technology and the impact on the workplace.
I recalled that in the late 1990s a friend of mine joined a social work team that was piloting innovative handheld devices. Their aspiration was to have a system where records could be updated on the move - in the client's home or in the car in between visits - and that this data would be synchronised with the central council database. Technology would free social workers from the bureaucracy of the office and they would be able to spend more time with clients. At the time, it seemed as though the future had arrived.
But colleagues now tell me that the promise of a technological transformation of the workplace has failed to materialise. Of course, technology has changed the way that social work is conducted - just not in the way that many of us envisaged.
The biggest impact has been the introduction of computerised databases for client records, which are, for the most part, still updated in the office. But far from having one unified system, the reality is that most of us are working with several disparate and separate computerised systems that don't communicate with each other.
The biggest gripe among co-workers is the dissatisfaction with the usability of systems. One grumbled about a recent request for a copy of a client's care plan that resulted in a huge computer-generated report, which seemed to include every revision of the plan along with numerous other parts of the case file. With all the extraneous data, it took her far longer than it would otherwise to work out what was the most recent care plan.
Instead of being an aid to social work, there is still the feeling that digital systems are a distraction from what ought to be, essentially, a social task.
Mark Drinkwater is a community worker in south London
