Slide 2 – so a bit about me. I’m a physicist and engineer by background, so originally very technical. Worked in the NHS in hospitals and with GPs supporting entrepreneurs and innovation. Building collaborations to get mature research and innovation into the clinical setting. I now work at The Kings Fund researching developments in the NHS and social care and creating reports and recommendations on what’s working or not and how to make improvements
Slide 7 – so what did we hear when we spoke with members of the public? We spoke with a few 10s of people across different ages, regions, backgrounds etc 8 people’s stories are told in one of our publications. In short people are hopeful and largely supportive of digitally enabled services but their expectations are not being met. This is creating frustration and confusion.. But when it does work it’s really transformative.
Here’s some quotes of what we heard from people. There’s people who are forced to use digital channels, have not choice, avoid healthcare services and end up in hospital. Others are forced through digital channels, don’t have the skills and their carers end up taking control. There’s others who are very digitally able but the way services are designed they can’t set up their assistive devices or can’t have them in consultations so can’t benefit. A person we spoke to who was homeless and can’t read or write but uses her smartphone to do things like read out text and fill forms mentioned how difficult healthcare services are, incompatible with accessibility options and she relies on support staff which gives her no privacy. But it’s important to remember for some it does work, when a deaf lady we spoke with has the right configuration of services and technology it’s an incredible leap forward. For Bill the online consultations and remote monitoring have substantially changed his care.
Especially when services are different from different providers in the same local area, so we heard a few times when a person being interviewed had very different digital services to a relation who they cared for.
so the factors supporting inclusion are outlined here:
as I mentioned we ran some workshops to understand what practical approaches can be taken to tackle digital exclusion. Firstly to fix the fundament barriers of devices, data and digital skills. Organisations across NHS, social care, local authorities and charities are often working in collaboration to source devices from companies or purchased through charitable donations. These devices are given out or loaned to people when loaned it’s a try before you buy kind of structure to help people try tech. The devices are often managed to mitigate cybersecurity issues but they are not locked for health use only. We learnt this is very important or risk the device becoming an expensive paperweight. Also streaming, messaging etc builds digital skills.
Similarly for data, collaborations across organisations to provide people with data on SIM cards but this can create a cliff edge of concern as data runs out.
Lastly is the digital skills and confidence where charities and volunteers are helping people in the community to use their devices. This might be setting up email and registering with the NHS app or accessing youtube where there’s lots of things including NHS videos.
one of those elements fail, then attempts to improve the use of digital services and make them more inclusive are likely to fail. Device, connectivity and support are all equally important
we heard how some areas are changing how services are structured to suit peoples needs and preferences. A practice has surveyed and contacted all their patients to grade their digital engagement levels outside of health. Then use this to help improve how they communicate and provide services. They’ve started to create 3 tiers of services,
the first is no-tech : which is traditional
second is low tech : where they’re putting digital touch points in NHS and community settings like libraries and pharmacies. Here there’s a member of staff or volunteer to help people use the tech.
Third is high tech: where patients can use their tech at home
Some NHS orgs are going one step further and co-developing the technology like apps and services with communities to ensure they work for people
Finally there’s a need to ensure that the services are consistent and equally high quality. We found that creating a hub of expertise in a geographic region is really helpful to do this. This doesn’t mean you’ve a new organisation or location, it’s a group of people (a network) that have the best practice, skills and links to communities to co-develop and help providers develop digitally enabled services.
We also created a policy brief, just 2 sides for recommendations on what can be done at a national level to reduce digital exclusion. The recommendations are listed here.