Podcast
AI in Social Care
Hosted by David Mance · EN
Explore tools, trends, and expert insights for care home operators and innovators.
In each episode, I speak with people building new AI tools, or those implementing them successfully. That could be software developers, founders, care leaders, or people on the ground who’ve embraced AI.
We explore how AI can be ethically and effectively applied in care settings and dig into:
-Where AI is delivering real efficiencies and value
-The practical side of adopting new tech in a care environment
-The ethical, operational, and human considerations
-How AI intersects with marketing, business development, and organisational systems
14episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Both sides of care: what losing my sight taught me. | EP. 16 w/ Jon Healy
5d ago00:36:38Tap to summarizeJon Healy spent 20 years as a carer. A year ago, a medical episode took most of his sight, and overnight his life was radically altered.In this episode he talks about what that taught him. The everyday accessibility tools that turned out to be a lifeline. The job he can still do, just differently. And the surprising ways AI has opened up new work rather than just speeding up the old.We get into the co-produced course his service users led, which snowballed into a graduation, a recipe book, a book club and a regular quiz. The practical AI wins, from a traffic-free walking route to a World Cup planner built for people who find reading hard. And his honest, measured take on where AI helps in care and where the human has to stay in charge.Jon also shares the moment AI found a 1981 legal precedent and resolved a tribunal case without a hearing.A warm, grounded conversation about care, technology and seeing the world differently.Timestamps00:00 Jon's story, 20 years in care01:13 Losing his sight, and relearning everything02:33 The accessibility setup that keeps him working08:00 A new perspective: becoming an advocate10:47 The course that snowballed into a graduation17:41 How AI actually gets used, day to day21:37 Advocacy at Parliament, and why care is undervalued29:46 Where AI could go wrong in care33:36 What good training looks like35:31 The 1981 case law that won a tribunal About David ManceDavid Mance is an independent AI trainer and consultant, and the founder of AI in Social Care. He helps UK care providers adopt AI safely and effectively. Find out more at https://aiinsocialcare.com/
Transcribe →Your care staff are already better at AI than you think | EP. 15 w/ Katie Thorn
6d ago00:52:35Tap to summarizeMost conversations about AI and the care workforce focus on risk, resistance, and what staff don't know. Katie Thorn, Head of Innovation at Digital Care Hub, makes the opposite argument: care workers already have the skills AI needs most.In this episode, we talk about why communication and empathy are actually an advantage with large language models, the real reason a template AI policy doesn't exist yet, and what the government's "fully digitised by 2029" plan doesn’t go far enough.Katie is also co-founder of the AI and Social Care Alliance – and we cover how that came about, the gender gap in care, job displacement fears, and what frontline workers really think about AI investment.In this episode:01:06 – What Digital Care Hub does (and what it doesn't)04:07 – How the AI and Social Care Alliance came about08:47 – Where to go if you want to get up to speed10:01 – Communication skills as prompting skills16:37 – Women are 20% more likely to live in digital poverty – and they're 85% of your workforce19:00 – What a frontline worker said at the first Alliance roundtable21:09 – Could AI job losses be a recruitment opportunity for care?24:09 – Why Digital Care Hub hasn’t published a template AI policy (yet)27:46 – Making AI governance work at board level34:31 – What good employer-led AI training actually looks like37:15 – Katie's background: growing up in a nursing home40:27 – The expensive lesson from picking the wrong tech system45:45 – Why "fully digitised by 2029" doesn't go far enoughKatie linkshttps://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/ Podcast: Control Plus Care: https://www.digitalcarehub.co.uk/podcast/ AI in Care Alliance: https://aiincarealliance.co.uk/ [COMING SOON]David Mance – CPD-certified AI trainer and consultant for the social care sector. Get resources and tutorials: https://aiinsocialcare.com/
Transcribe →80% of Care Providers Are Small – Here's How They Can Make AI Work For Them | EP. 14 w/ Samir Patel
Apr 2900:43:00Tap to summarizeSmall providers make up 80% of the care home market, yet when it comes to technology and AI, they're often the last to get support. In this episode, I sit down with Samir Patel – care home owner, operator, and founder of the Care Home Digi Hive community – to talk about his 20-year journey from paper chaos to practical AI implementation.Samir shares the lightbulb moments that pushed him toward tech, the £25,000 mistake that taught him everything about change management, and why he believes care homes should start with "back office" AI before touching resident data.Whether you're a startup or a large provider, this conversation is packed with hard-won lessons on making technology work without overwhelming your team.Find out more about the Digihive community: https://www.carehomedigihive.com/Samir's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-patel-07684912/Samir's podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iCareServicesUK/featuredAnd on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKDdIwu5H9ke3dYOPdfu4?si=34c25c9a3559497a&nd=1&dlsi=c30ae3c960dc4482David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/AIinSocial Care tutorials, podcast and more: https://aiinsocialcare.com/
Transcribe →Are We Choosing Care Tech All Wrong? | EP. 13 w/ Paul Shanahan
Mar 900:36:35Tap to summarizeMost care technology does what it says on the tin. It functions, ticks boxes, completes tasks.But somewhere in the process of evaluating, procuring and implementing tech, something often gets lost – the relationships that make care actually work.In this episode, I speak with Paul Shanahan, a clinical lead and behaviour analyst turned part-time coder, who's been wrestling with this challenge.Paul shares the thinking behind his Relational Care Tool, which is built on real research with service users, carers and care organisations. It helps teams evaluate technology not just on functionality, but on whether it enriches the human experience of care.We also talk about his digital health passport project, which is tackling one of the most frustrating and overlooked problems in care transitions: the outdated, easily lost, 12-page paper document that's supposed to tell a busy A&E team everything they need to know about a person with complex needs.If you've ever sat in a procurement meeting and thought "There must be a better way" then this episode is for you.Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjshanahan/Relational Care custom GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6984b31aadb08191a86b25d8a40c1afd-tech-for-relational-careListen to more interviews and watch free AI in care tutorials: https://aiinsocialcare.com/
Transcribe →How One Small Care Group Got AI Right (Without a Tech Team) | EP. 12 w/ Kevin Humphrys
Jan 1400:52:23Tap to summarizeWhat does it actually take to make AI work in a care setting? In this episode of AI in Social Care, I sit down with Kevin Humphrys, CEO of Oakland Care Group – a two-home provider that’s quietly doing some of the most thoughtful, practical AI implementation I’ve seen. No outsourced transformation project. No shiny tools for the sake of it. Just a leadership team willing to start with principles, and adjust the plan as they go. Here’s what stood out:– They didn’t wait to have it all figured out. They started with 5 rules.– Staff now build their own AI agents – including senior care staff. Not because they were “techy”, but because they saw the value.– Care planning went from 4 hours to 20 minutes – with better oversight, not less.– They spotted bias the hard way – and built systems to catch it next time.– Most importantly: they’re not using AI to cut corners. They’re using it to give staff time back. If you're in a care leadership role and feel like you're already behind on AI, you're not. But the gap will grow quickly in 2026 – and this episode shows what it looks like to start where you are, with what you’ve got.ResourcesKevin's Gen AI Governance template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yx6CSQe5y0bAuNWx9Ong7mOxdeZXm_U6/view?usp=drive_link📄 Free starter resources at frankcaremarketing.com #AIinCare #CareSector #SocialCareLeadership #CarePlanning #SocialCareTech
Transcribe →How AI is optimising home care routes : A Care Provider’s Story | EP. 11 w/ Jonathan McFarlane
Nov 1700:38:34Tap to summarizeWhat happens when a care provider builds their own AI – not in a lab, but in the real world of rotas, staff sickness, and visit chaos?In this episode of AI in Social Care, I speak with Jonathan McFarlane, founder of Oran Care and now the creator of carevisits.AI – a new solution designed to help home care services tackle one of their biggest operational headaches: coordination.Jonathan shares his journey from music therapy and dementia care to building tech tools. Now, with a sharp focus on visit planning and routing, his team is developing AI to solve the kind of problems that only someone who’s been in the trenches would recognise.– Why care coordination is more complex than people think– Why the user decides how to measure success– How to approach optimising systems (way before getting AI involved)– Why experience in care matters more than clever codeIf you’ve ever felt the pain of last-minute rota changes, weekend on-call stress, or trying to make sense of three systems that don’t talk to each other, this one’s for you.Check out carevisits.ai🔗 Find free resources on getting started with AI in care at frankcaremarketing.comDavid's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/Jonathan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mcfarlane-a9b0325a/#SocialCare #AIinCare #HomeCare #CareTech #DigitalCare #CareCoordination #AI #FrankCareMarketing #CareVisitsAI #HealthTech #CareSector
Transcribe →Why One Social Worker Changed Her Mind About the Job | EP. 10 w/ Rachel Astall
Oct 2800:46:00Tap to summarizeEveryone’s excited about AI, but few are actually getting it adopted by frontline workers. In this episode, I’m joined by Rachel Astall, Chief Customer Officer at Beam, creators of Magic Notes — an AI tool now used by half of all social care teams in UK local authorities. We talk about why social workers are often drowning in admin, how Magic Notes is helping to change that, and what it takes to make a tech rollout actually stick. We cover:🔸 How tools like Magic Notes are helping some workers stay in jobs they were about to leave🔸 What it takes to build trust and tech habits in care teams🔸 The role of training, templates, and culture in successful adoption🔸 Why AI in social care is about more than just efficiency – it’s about connection, consent, and quality of care If you're in adult social care, commissioning, or working with digital adoption in frontline services, this is an episode worth your time.
Transcribe →What good leadership on AI looks like | EP. 9 w/ Eric Bye
Oct 1400:53:21Tap to summarizeWhere on earth do you start with adopting AI as a care provider? Studies show that if your leadership team isn’t using AI and talking about it knowledgeably, the rest of your organisation is far less likely to adopt it in a meaningful, effective way. In this episode I’m joined by Eric Bye, an AI consultant who works across sectors to help organisations use AI to not just be more efficient, but to amplify their own unique points of difference. We talk about the importance of a clear AI policy, privacy concerns, and Eric also shares how he likely saved his partner's life with ChatGPT. We also hear about Eric's experiences from community projects and offers perspectives on the future of AI capabilities. Eric's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericqbye/Eric's website: http://www.erictronai.com/MyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mance/ Download '5 easy ways to get started with AI': https://free.frankcaremarketing.com/5-simple-ways-to-get-started-with-ai-in-social-care 00:00 Introduction to AI Adoption in Care00:17 Meet Eric: AI Consultant Extraordinaire00:54 Eric's Journey in AI and Tech04:15 Leadership Workshops and Training05:17 AI in Various Sectors06:16 Leadership Mindsets and AI09:21 Building a Foundation of AI Knowledge12:46 Encouraging AI Experimentation15:45 Effective AI Leadership19:02 Creating and Implementing AI Policies21:49 Balancing Quick Wins and Long-Term AI Goals23:01 Brainstorming AI Integration in Workflows23:33 Aligning AI with Customer Experience24:21 Implementing AI Projects Quickly25:35 Data Privacy and Governance in AI28:35 AI in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities33:47 AI for Community Support and Education40:46 Future of AI: Task Automation and Integration46:44 AI Thought Leaders and Resources
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Fix big problems with AI – or why bother?| EP. 8 w/ Marcus Williamson
Sep 1600:44:06Tap to summarizeWhat's the point of AI if it doesn't solve big problems? Marcus is a mathematician on a mission. He quit investment banking to found Elyndra AI, a platform doing amazing things for children's care. In this episode of AI in Social Care, we cover:The best way to reinvent care isn't through tech – we need a Netflix documentaryFrom trading floors to children's homes – turning data analysis on proper problemsHow Shadow AI is already in your care service – and how to fix that before it does harmSome fascinating and original work in reimagining recruitment for complex careApproaching tech procurement as a great door opener to discussions within a business – and one warning sign to look out for from vendors Marcus is an original thinker that the sector is lucky to have IMHO.Do your ears a favour and listen to this one. 🎧 Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, and Amazon Music.Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest, human-first conversations about the future of care. #aiinsocialcare #childrenscare #caretech #shadowAI #carecrisis 01:10 Reinventing Care with a Netflix documentary03:19 Human stories that build empathy06:07 Marcus’ path: maths, finance, family care homes09:03 AI and Data in Care Management14:53 AI is nothing without an expert to make sense of it16:01 Pitfalls and ‘shadow AI’ in care18:01 Introducing Elyndra and Its Impact21:00 Smarter referrals and safer matching24:01 Challenges in Introducing New Systems25:04 Building Trust with Providers28:13 The Importance of Information Sharing30:16 Personal Motivation and Vision32:20 Expanding Horizons: Future Plans34:01 Specialised Recruitment in Complex Care40:22 Practical Steps for Implementing AI in Care44:06 Final Thoughts
Transcribe →This AI Might Be a Better Care Recruiter Than Your HR Team – Here's Why
Sep 100:37:36Tap to summarizeWhat if your next brilliant care hire never even makes it past the CV stage?That’s the question we’re exploring in this episode of AI in Social Care — with guest Elan James Weedon (aka EJ), co-founder of Team Lily.EJ’s journey takes him from the West End stage to the heart of care sector recruitment. And along the way, he’s developed an AI voice assistant designed to fix one of the oldest problems in hiring: we judge too soon, based on too little information.We cover:– The difference between someone who’s clicking to apply and someone who really wants the job– Why traditional recruitment filters out some of the best people– How voice AI can help spot soft skills and values you’d never get from a form– And what happens when a candidate has all the right traits… but still gets overlookedYou’ll also hear a live demo of Lily — the AI assistant that holds short, human-sounding conversations with applicants, helping care providers listen better, earlier.If we say we hire on values, but filter by forms… what are we really doing? Download the FREE guide: 5 Ways to Get Started with AI in Care: https://free.frankcaremarketing.com/5-simple-ways-to-get-started-with-ai-in-social-careBook a FREE AI & Automation Consulting Call: https://book.frankcaremarketing.com/free-consultationMy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-manceTeam Lily website: https://www.teamlily.ai/EJ's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elan-james-weedon/
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