Care and Support planning is central to good practice in health and social care. It involves working with individuals, their families and allied professionals to document care and support needs, set realistic objectives, describe support measures, and plan for the future. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) emphasises that good care and support plans should be person-centred, clear, evidence-based and regularly reviewed.
With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), Care and Support planning is poised for transformation, but what does this mean in practice?
Benefits:
- Smarter, Faster, More Personal
AI can process large volumes of information, such as medical records, assessments and risk factors and turn it into meaningful insights. When planning care, this could translate into highly personalised plans that consider all aspects of a person’s medical and social needs, their lifestyle and preferences. In doing so, it can also assist with compliance and evidencing best practice, by linking content to national guidelines and best practice standards
- More Time to Care
AI’s efficiency in generating a draft plan could give staff more time for meaningful interaction with service users and their families. This is time that could be used to strengthen relationships, enhance the wellbeing of both service user and staff (and improving satisfaction for both)
- Review
A review date need never be missed again, as AI will alert staff when a review is due after a hospital admission, a change in medication, or a decline in mobility, for example. For people with communication challenges, AI translation and plain language tools could make plans more accessible and inclusive to everyone involved, not least the service user
- Enhancing Communication and Inclusion
AI can improve how plans are communicated. Tools that translate text or simplify complex information support shared decision making and ensure everyone involved understands the plan. This aligns with CQC guidance, which emphasises clear, understandable communication
Risks:
- Loss of The Human Touch
Skilled Care and Support planning is not merely paperwork; it is through human partnerships, service users, families and the care professional that a plan becomes responsive, meaningful, and capable of improving outcomes
- Over Reliance
A reliance on AI could create detailed, compliant documentation, but could this potentially erode the warmth and trust that only human to human interaction in care provides? While AI can assist in generating detailed plans and streamlining administrative tasks, professional carers and nurses must remain vigilant against over-reliance on these systems
- Bias
It’s important to bear in mind that an AI system’s insights are limited by the accuracy and completeness of its training data. If that data is incomplete, unrepresentative, or skewed, the system may fail to recognise needs creating a form of bias, where the AI’s output mirrors gaps or assumptions in the data, rather than reflecting the true diversity of human needs
- Lack of Oversight
AI is essentially a non-human set of algorithms. It cannot substitute for human relationships, or fully replicate the emotional intelligence, intuition, and nuanced judgment that experienced professionals bring to care and support. Over dependence on it could lead to lapses in professional oversight or critical decision making, eroding the human connections central to delivery of person centred care
- Accountability
When AI may suggest actions or highlight risks, there is a danger professionals may come to rely without question on its output. However, ultimate responsibility and accountability for decisions remains with the professional. AI should serve to enhance human judgement; it cannot and should not ever replace it
A Useful Support
It is, therefore, essential that AI tools are understood and used only as supportive aids, with care, support and nursing professionals maintaining active engagement, reflection, and professional judgment in all aspects of planning and delivery.
Effective plans are shaped through conversation, active listening, and genuine engagement. They capture not only goals, needs and risks, but also hopes, emotions and preferences. Care and Support planning becomes a living, person centred process, where there is a real time, human connection, for which there is no artificial substitute.
So, what should AI be used for?
- Generating draft Care and Support plans – saving time by creating templates based on assessments and prior care notes
- Identifying patterns and risks – spotting early signs of deterioration, falls, or medication interactions
- Linking to evidence-based guidance – ensuring Care and Support follows best practice and national standards
- Highlighting review needs – flagging when plans should be updated
- Supporting personalised goals – suggesting interventions that promote independence and wellbeing
- Improving accessibility – translating plans and simplifying language
- Tracking outcomes over time – monitoring effectiveness of interventions
- Assisting documentation – keeping records complete, consistent, and audit-ready
- Key Fact: AI supports decision-making – it provides insight, flags risks, and suggests actions, but humans always remain accountable
AI Should Never:
- Make decisions without human oversight
- Replace human Care and Support, empathy, or connection
- Override a person’s preferences or priorities
- Be relied on as the sole source of information
Because:
- It could reinforce bias or inequity, overlooking the needs of certain groups
- It could ignore context, nuance, or emotional needs: it cannot fully understand emotions, personal history or subtle changes in wellbeing
- Compromise privacy or act without consent by sharing sensitive information without the person’s full understanding or agreement
Striking the Right Balance
The challenge for professionals is to achieve balance. Although AI can reduce administrative burden, flag risks and strengthen evidence-based practice, Care and Support planning remains fundamentally human. Face to face conversation, trust, and shared decisions are central to person-centred care.
Looking Ahead
As AI continues to evolve, the CQC, along with equivalent regulatory bodies in other jurisdictions are monitoring and providing guidance on its safe and ethical use in care.
Providers must ensure staff are trained to use AI as a support tool, integrating its outputs into individualised Care and Support plans without ever allowing it replace professional judgment and human decision-making.
At every stage, service users and families must be confidently reassured that technology is used to enhance, not replace the personalised, dignified support they deserve.
Ethical Considerations for Professional Caregivers and Nurses
AI can support Care and Support, but it must never replace empathy, human connection, clinical expertise and professional judgment. Using it can enrich the planning process, making it faster, smarter, and more personalised. However, the heart of good Care and Support will always be a human connection within a caring relationship.
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