‘Data maturity’ is the term used to describe organisations' capacity to collect, manage, and use data to achieve their objectives. When data maturity is low, a lack of automated processes, standardised formats, data skills and culture, and integration between organisations can lead to inefficiencies and poorer decision-making.

In Wales, a major effort is currently underway to improve the data maturity of the social care sector. In particular, the National Data Resource (NDR) is a large-scale programme managed by Digital Health and Care Wales that will bring together electronic health and care records into a single repository. This will enable professionals providing social care and health services to make more informed decisions, better allocate resources, and improve outcomes for service users.

Social Care Wales has been tasked with leading the development of a social care data strategy in partnership with the Welsh Government and other stakeholders. As part of this undertaking, Alma Economics was commissioned to conduct a Data Maturity Assessment for the Wales social care sector.

Social care in Wales is a much more fragmented landscape than health care. Services and support are delivered by hundreds of different organisations and providers in the public, private, and third sectors. The 22 local authorities collect and manage much of the data relating to the delivery of social care in different formats.

Using a bespoke survey and additional stakeholder engagement, we assessed the data maturity of all 22 local authorities, producing individual reports for each one with advice on the practical steps they can take to improve their data maturity. We also produced a national report providing an overview of the social care data landscape and practical recommendations to support the development of the NDR.

➥ Read a summary of our results here.

➥ Find the full report here.