A range of innovative projects were pushed through by East Ayrshire Council recently in a bid to improve services and save cash.

Five new projects were agreed at cabinet recently which the council hopes will bring about real improvements in the way services are delivered.

The project proposals are part of the East Ayrshire Innovation Fund which was established to support services in taking forward projects that aim to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility of council services.

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As well as aiming to deliver tangible service improvements, some of the innovative projects will also create financial savings that are then repaid to the fund at the conclusion of each project. 

The first project is a new online literacy resource which will see all schools, Early Childhood Centres, support workers and Lifeskills and Inclusion Team service users benefit from a growing online library and support readers who are dyslexic or visually impaired.

The second project to be approved involves the expansion of the use of technology within health and social care to support people through early interventions and to provide meaningful, cost-effective ways for people to manage their own health and wellbeing.

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The next project involves a move away from mainly paper-based service delivery, with the use of digital technology, and more specifically AI, to help make real improvements within the Care at Home Staff Management System.

Within schools, a new project will be introduced to replace the current cashless catering system. This includes pre-ordering through an app for secondary schools. 

The final project to be approved involves purchasing two robotic cleaners which would be trialled at Barony Campus and William McIlvanney Campus.

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Speaking about the changes, council leader, Douglas Reid said: “These innovative projects all have huge potential to bring about real service improvements as well as allowing us to reinvest in continuous innovation over the coming years.

"This is something that is particularly important given the difficult financial position that the council is currently facing.

“The increased use of digital technology, smart supports and AI will literally help to improve people’s quality of life, while we expect to see other positive outcomes such as the roll-out of early intervention and prevention projects and the development of more collaborative partnerships.

“We will obviously be closely monitoring these projects and evaluating their effectiveness, and a large part of this will involve gathering feedback from employees and service users to understand the benefits that these five exciting projects will no doubt provide.”