richmond & wandsworth · adult social care

Carer assessments, by voice or text

Support that's there at 2am, when the office isn't

A voice-and-text assistant that lets unpaid carers complete a carer assessment themselves - any hour, in their own words, no callback

inbound · voice & text carer assessments richmond & wandsworth 2024-2025

90%

carers rate their experience at 90% or above

over 60% of interactions came outside office hours

A woman sitting close to an older woman on a sofa at home, holding her hand

the problem

Most carers don't ask for help until they're already in crisis

5.8m

unpaid carers, many never assessed

2m+

requests for adult social care support, 2023/24

372,000

waiting for an assessment, care or a review, March 2025

Many carers are entitled to support under the Care Act 2014 but never request it, and reach breaking point first

The routes that exist - office-hours phone calls, paper forms, scheduled callbacks - are hardest for the people with the least spare time

what we did

An assistant that takes the assessment, in their words, any hour

asks in plain language

a natural conversation, not a form to fill in

captures structured data live

answers become structured notes for the team as the carer talks

suggests local services

matches local support to what the carer describes

start, pause, resume any time

no time limit, no need to finish in one sitting

Available 24/7 by voice or text, through each council's carer portal

It complements direct contact with staff, it does not replace it - a carer can always reach a social worker

// carer assessment · inbound · voice or text

carer (opens the portal, evening)

I look after my husband. I'm not sure I even count as a carer

assistant

Many people in your position do. I can take you through a short carer assessment now, by voice or by typing, whichever suits you. There's no time limit, and you can stop and come back

carer

Okay. He has dementia and I'm up most nights

assistant

Thank you for telling me, that sounds exhausting. I'll note that you provide overnight care and that your sleep is affected. What are you finding hardest at the moment?

carer

Getting any time to myself

assistant

I'll flag respite support for your area. If anything ever feels urgent, I can put you through to a person straight away

A younger person's hand resting gently over an older person's hands

how it runs

Built for adult social care, not retrofitted to it

access

voice or text, 24/7, through the borough portal · carers start whenever they can, no appointment

escalation

urgent or sensitive disclosures flag for immediate human follow-up · safeguarding cues trigger prioritisation

consent

introduces itself as automated · a carer can pause, resume, or ask for a person at any point

data

assessments, transcripts and summaries stay in UK data centres · GDPR · Cyber Essentials Plus · SOC 2 Type 1 · IBM Cloud for Financial Services Validated

integration

structured results land in the systems the team already uses, ready for review

limits

does not replace the assessment or a social worker · no clinical judgement · a human is always reachable · it handles the routine intake, the team does the rest

the result

Run with unpaid carers across Richmond and Wandsworth

Available the same way to every carer in both boroughs

90%

carer experience rating

Carers rate their experience with the assistant at 90% or above

Carers rated it, and most came after hours

access

"Over 60% of interactions happen outside office hours" - the times when reaching a council office is not an option

reach

the carers hardest to reach are the ones with no room in the working day to ask for help

focus

routine intake handled, so staff time goes to the carers who need a human conversation

not their first

The councils had already run voice AI outbound, before taking it inbound for carers

74% · ot waiting list 77% · care technology

74% of outbound calls to occupational therapy waiting list residents collected the information needed to prioritise and progress cases

77% of calls to care technology users confirmed whether a device should stay with the resident or be returned for reallocation

Those results gave the councils the confidence to take voice AI inbound

"By making support more accessible and immediate, we hope to identify carers earlier and connect them with the right services before they reach breaking point. The technology gives us another way to listen and respond, while ensuring that qualified staff can focus on more complex cases"

Steve Shaffelburg

Senior Commissioning Manager, Richmond and Wandsworth Councils

what it shows

Meeting carers at their hour changes who you reach

01

Carers came when the office was shut

over 60% of interactions came outside office hours

02

Two ways in, both used

carers chose voice or text, whichever suited them

03

A low-barrier start for the unsure

people who would never have phoned began an assessment themselves

04

Structured results, less admin

assessments land ready for the team to review, no re-keying

05

It works for any council running carer assessments

or any assessment a resident can start themselves

related work in uk public services

Wondering how many of your carers would start a conversation out of hours

Book a 30-minute walkthrough - we will show you how the Richmond & Wandsworth assistant runs, what a deployment looks like for your service, and what it would cost

Book the walkthrough →

Or see the rest of the Richmond & Wandsworth work on our UK public services page →

Carer assessments, by voice or text

Most carers don't ask for help until they're already in crisis

An assistant that takes the assessment, in their words, any hour

Built for adult social care, not retrofitted to it

Carers rated it, and most came after hours

Meeting carers at their hour changes who you reach

Wondering how many of your carers would start a conversation out of hours

Call Demo