Making Space joins Liverpool City Region Adult Social Care Testbed
Published 21 September 2025
We are proud to share that Making Space has been invited to join the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Adult Social Care Testbed – a groundbreaking initiative to transform care and support through innovation, technology and collaboration.
The Testbed, running from 2025–2027, is being led by the National Care Forum (NCF) in partnership with the University of Liverpool and others, as part of the region’s Life Sciences Innovation Zone Programme. It aims to bring together care providers, academics, industry partners and people with lived experience to co-create solutions that make a real difference to people’s lives.
Vic Rayner, Chief Executive of the NCF, described the project on LinkedIn as “a huge opportunity to explore what it means to build technology with people, not just for them.”
The Testbed is all about working together to make care better. By bringing together care providers, academics, industry partners and people with lived experience, it will create and test new technologies, make smarter use of data, and give the workforce fresh skills and confidence. The goal is simple – to transform support for adults with disabilities and the region’s growing older population.
By embedding data and technology into social care, the Testbed hopes to improve the quality of care, create economic growth through inclusive innovation, and position Liverpool City Region as a leader in CareTech.
Talking about our involvement, Rachel Horton, Regional Head of Operations, said:
It’s fantastic for Making Space to be part of the Adult Social Care Testbed right from the very beginning. Our teams are already involved in the information-gathering stage, sharing staff feedback and insights, and engaging the people we support so that lived experience directly shapes future innovation.
Showcasing innovation at the NCF Care Innovation Challenge
Making Space will also be centre stage at the NCF Care Innovation Challenge 2025, taking place on 8–9 October at the NEC Birmingham.
We are proud to be two of the five members of the Adult Social Care Testbed Panel, represented by Kim Smith, Associate Director of Operations, and Rachel Horton, Regional Head of Operations at Making Space.
They will sit alongside leading voices from Nautilus International, the National Care Forum and the University of Liverpool.
At the same event, we are delighted to be semi- finalists in the Care Innovation Challenge competition with our ‘Making It Real’ Co-Production Game - created in partnership with the people we support, the game is a fun, practical way to bring co-production to life. With a colourful board, conversation cards and a simple action plan, it helps teams work in partnership and embed co-production into everyday care. Already award-winning, it’s now competing for a £1,000 prize to support its wider roll-out.
Rachel Peacock, Chief Executive of Making Space, added:
We’re incredibly proud to be part of the LCR Adult Social Care Testbed and to have a voice on the panel at this year’s Care Innovation Challenge. This project represents a vital opportunity to shape the future of care in a way that is both innovative and deeply rooted in lived experience. At Making Space, we know that the best ideas come from collaboration, bringing together people who receive care, their families, and the workforce who deliver it. Being part of this initiative means we can help make sure technology and data truly serve the people who matter most.
This is just the beginning of an exciting journey. Over the next two years, we’ll be working closely with our Testbed partners to share learning, test new approaches and make sure people remain at the heart of innovation.
We’ll be following the progress of the Testbed closely and look forward to sharing updates and insights as the project develops.
Find out more about the Testbed on the National Care Forum website.
