Reaching People is currently managing the Health+ Project, an initiative funded by NHS charities with the aim of improving digital health provision for over 50s in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The work is mainly focused on engaging GP surgeries to host Health+ digital surgeries for the over 50’s population. Patients are supported to gain digital skills confidence so that they can go online to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and find health information. Friday Chidlow, project manager for Health+, will provide an overview of how the project is supporting patient’s digital literacy, share the reflections of Health+ volunteer’s on their health literacy training and provide details of plans to train social prescribers in health literacy and extend training to GP surgery staff.

1. Health+ Project
This project has been supported by NHS
Charities Together through your local NHS
Charities, Leicester Hospitals Charity and
Raising Health (Leicestershire Partnership NHS
Trust)

2. Health+
 Health+ Overview
 Health+Aims
 Digital Literacy & Health Literacy
 How this Project Embeds Health Literacy
 Feedback from Volunteers
 Evaluation Results
 Developing the Skills of Health Care Professionals
 Questions

3. Health+ Overview
 Building on the LeicesterAgeing Together digital inclusion project: Dec 2019- Mar 2021
 Aimed at over 50s in Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland
 Started in August 2022 and finishes June 2023
 Six Aims
 Digital Health Hubs: An evaluation for the NHS Widening Digital Participation Programme
 Manage volunteers to work in Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland
 Employ part time project manager and part time admin assistant

4. Health+ Aims

5. Health+
Digital Literacy & Health Literacy?
Health+ Project objective:
 To increase patient health literacy by the provision of health literacy
training for volunteers.
Improving digital literacy can help a patient to increase their health literacy –
“The personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals and
communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and
services to make decisions about health”
Here’s how…

6. Health+
Digital Literacy & Health Literacy?
 Teaching digital literacy in a health literate way using chunk and check
and teach back methods
 One on one support removing fear of ‘school classroom like’ scenarios
 Showing patients how they can access information in different formats
e.g. how to access video content as well as written content
 Improving a patient’s digital confidence by allowing them to try out the
apps, fail and try again
 Can return for repeat visits
 Overcoming barriers in digital can boost confidence and have a positive
effect on other areas – 3 visits to acquire skills for NHS app
Challenges:
 Potential to overload patients with additional computer Jargon

7. Health+
How Health+ Embeds Health Literacy
 Training
 Clear and concise written communication for GP surgeries, Patients,
Digital Companions
 Agile approach – Simplifying over complicated information
 Further opportunities – Legacy, Social Prescribers, training NHS Staff

8. Health+
Training
 Deliveredby digital companion volunteer (a retired university
lecturer)
 2 hour workshop
 Train all volunteers in health literacy (additional training includes:
safeguarding, online security, GP apps/systems and NHS App,
evaluation)
 Train staff/volunteers from other organisations in LLR – Enrych, VASL
 Content (see next slide)

9. Health Literacy Awareness Workshop
Aims and objectives
➢ To increase your knowledge of what health literacy is and why
it is important;
➢ To raise awareness of how Health Literacy is relevant to the
Health Plus project;
➢ To raise awareness of how having low health literacy impacts
on individuals’ health and wellbeingand the services that
support them;
➢ To increase awareness of the tools and techniques that can
support people with low health literacy and promote health
literacy in practice;
➢ To raise awareness of the resources and information available
to support you in promoting health literacy.
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Copyright Reaching People 2019

10. Health+
Clear and Concise Written Communication
GP surgery Staff and Patients
 Introductory meeting – PowerPoint Presentation
 Ongoing communication – Emails etc
Volunteers
 Clear goals and expectations
 Checklist before they train at surgeries
 Ongoing communications

11. Health+
Health+ digital surgeries
 Aim: to support older patients (over 50’s) at 25 surgeries in Leicester
Leicestershire and Rutland.
 To increase the number of older people utilising digital apps for
ordering prescriptions, appointments and getting NHS information and
advice.
Other benefits include:
 Helping to reduce telephone calls/visits to surgeries.
 Improving the digital skills confidence of older people.

12. Patient: Checklist
#
 Bring photo ID for NHS app.
 Bring proof of address for surgery online services (if a requirement).
 Bring print out of log sign in and password for GP apps and systems.
 Ensure their device is fully charged.
 Bring device to the surgery.
 Ensure they know their email log in detail.
 Notify the surgery if they cannot attend their appointment.

13. Health+
Agile Approach – Learning as we go
Ongoing aim to ensure our output is health literate
 Evaluation – Piloted, reflected upon and revised
 Update introductory Presentation for GP surgeries as project progresses
 Monthly volunteer meeting and WhatsApp group with volunteers to
share challenges and solutions around accessing Apps with each other
 Created posters and more recently a 1 minute animated video to
market the project
 Encouraged surgeries to promote a Zoom session to introduce the
project to patients.
 Offering an EventBrite style session on NHS app for people who cannot
attend our Health+ sessions. (Trial run with Zoomers)

14. Evaluation

15. Success Factors
 Invite patient to a Zoom call/Info event to introduce them to Health+
 Call patients who have signed up to a session the day before to remind them
about bookings and what they need to bring (see Patient: Checklist)
 Surgery informs volunteers which patients have confirmed their attendance
 Support by reception team this includes ensuring patients have log ins and
passwords
 There are adequate numbers of bookings slots available on the appointment
booking system
 Good communication between GP surgery and Health+

16. Health+
Feedback from Digital Companions
 ‘I think that the training that we received … (in Health Literacy) had a
lot to do with the idea and understanding of how cumbersome the
available information is and learning about how to make it simple and
easy for the patients to understand and retain the required
knowledge.’
 ‘I think that the aspect of the Health Literacy training .. that affected
the way that I teach digital skills to patients was the material about
TeachBack. I already used that to some extent, but the Health
Literacy training further emphasised the importance of it.’
 ‘Now I kind of look at my patient and tailor my training best suited to
their needs….Keeping in mind their basic requirements of quick access
to health services.’

17. Health+
Evaluation results to date
Patients were given the following statements and could choose from
strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree or disagree, agree, strongly
agree:
 65% strongly agreed & 29% agreed with the statement ‘I feel more
confident about finding information online to do with your health and
wellbeing’.
 56% strongly agreed/26% agreed with the statement ‘I feel more
confident using online health services’.
 53% strongly agreed/32% agreed with statement ‘My Digital skills have
improved’.
*These figures are based on 34 interactions with patients. (The
evaluation form was amended at beginning of August to include these
likert questions, total number of interactions up until this date were 84).

18. Three main areas of influence…
Improving people’s Health Literacy
levels
Developing the skills of health/care
professionals to help them implement health
literate practice
Helping the system to become more
Health Literate
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Copyright Reaching People 2019
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3

19. Health+
Area 2: Developing the skills of health care
professionals
Working with Integrated Care Board to set up health literacy training
session(s) for social prescribers
GP surgery staff are interested in health literacy training
 Recruiting a volunteer who has NHS background
 Or use services of a health literacy professional to take up this piece of
work

20. Health+
Questions

21. This project has been supported by NHS Charities Together through your local NHS Charities, Leicester Hospitals Charity and Raising Health (Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust)
To contact the Health+ project:
Email: healthplus@reachingpeople.co.uk
Telephone: 07955 070513 (Mon to Wed)
0744 700 6986 (Fri)