A joint mission: ensuring human rights are embedded into digital health and social care

Nicola Cooper, Head of Digital Futures at Scottish Care, taking stock on our 20th Anniversary.

Scottish Care has been one of the ALLIANCE’s longest partners in creating and championing our Digital Health and Social Care Human Rights Principles. The Digital Team has had a long respectful and successful working relationship with Scottish Care, which has been grounded by a shared ethos and vision for our hopes for social care delivery in Scotland.

Nicola Cooper, Head of Digital Futures at Scottish Care, taking stock on our 20^th Anniversary:

Scottish Care has worked collaboratively with the ALLIANCE for many years, particularly around digital health and social care, human rights, and co-production. I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with the Digital Team and the Digital Citizen Panel across several initiatives, including innovation work around falls management, prevention, and self-management, as well as broader conversations around rights-based approaches to technology in health and social care. The partnership has always felt grounded in shared values – which has made collaboration both meaningful and impactful.

One of the most enjoyable aspects has been the ALLIANCE Digital Team’s commitment to a human rights approach and to lived experience. That commitment isn’t just something that sits in strategy documents – it’s embedded in how they work, how they build relationships, and how they shape projects. Their ability to bring together diverse voices and ensure lived experience experts are genuinely influencing decisions has strengthened every piece of work we’ve done together. The work around falls management – funded by the Health Foundation and led by NHS Lanarkshire – is a great example of this, where collaboration across health, social care, lived experience experts, and digital innovation came together to support prevention and self-management.

My hope is that we continue to build on this strong partnership, particularly as we navigate the opportunities and challenges of technology and AI in health and social care. The ALLIANCE’s commitment to lived experience and human rights will be more important than ever as digital innovation accelerates. There’s real value in continuing to create spaces where we can collaborate, challenge each other, and ensure innovation remains grounded in what matters most to people drawing on care and support.

The ALLIANCE brings something vital to the sector – a commitment to partnership, lived experience, and human rights that strengthens everything we do together. Scottish Care values that deeply, and we look forward to continuing that journey over the next 20 years.

In the next 20 years, I would love to see the ALLIANCE continue to be a strong and trusted voice for lived experience – shaping public service reform and ensuring that people remain at the centre of digital health and social care.