Page 29 - Doing Data Together by The Scotsman

draw conclusions. Through SOLAR and other professional networks like the Local Government Digital Office, local authorities have been able to respond on a more collective basis rather than have our partner agen- cies negotiate 32 times over, which is better for everyone.”
However, the coronavirus crisis also identified areas where improve- ments are needed. Leitch says there is “much to learn in terms of how we use data in future”, and there was fierce criticism in the media of the discharging of patients who hadn’t been tested for Covid-19 from hospi- tals to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic.
One “could do better” issue is the fact that local authorities and oth- er public bodies use a variety of different platforms, which can make sharing data slower and clunkier than it should be.
Docherty says: “There is a big piece of work to do around common data standards and frameworks – it’s easier to share data [both ethi- cally and legally] between public bodies when everything is aligned. The Scottish Government under- stands that and is well down the road in addressing it.”
Albert King, Scotland’s Chief Data Officer, says that real progress has been made before and during the pandemic, but accepts there are challenges, “because different public services describe data in different ways”.
He says this is being addressed by creating “contemporary, digit-
al, platform-based busi-
ness models”, set out
in Scotland’s Digital Strategy.
“This is reflected in the approach we
are taking to digital identity and pay- ments. Adoption of common data standards and platforms reduces the cost and time of delivering dig- ital products and services.”
To help speed up this digital jour- ney, two taskforces were set up. One connected councils, the Scottish Government, NHS, police, enter- prise agencies and others “to assem-
ble data from across the public sec- tor for analysis”, says King.
Research Data Scotland also announced a new taskforce in May, chaired by Chief Statistician Roger Halliday.
It brought together existing and emerging data resources, expertise, capabilities and key data sets – healthcare services, testing, care home residents, vulner- able groups and
Testing of elderly people and healthcare workers both proved to be pressure points. Inset below, Dr Kenneth Meechan. Main picture: Shutterstock
school pupils, as well as census data – to advise ministers making vital decisions around Covid-19.
King says that collaboration was highly significant in the early months of the pandemic: “Bringing together health and local government data was really important in enabling us to work together to identify and sup- port people who were shielding.”
He also highlights Connecting Scotland, which supports thou- sands of vulnerable people (those on low incomes and considered clini- cally at high risk) to get online to access services and connect with their friends and family during the pandemic.
King says: “Both examples meant co-operation between national and local government, health and social care and the voluntary sector, to understand who needed support and where.”
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