For many, the entire personal, work and social lives have gone online. Being able to benefit from this digital world is dependent on having an internet connection, a suitable device and the skills to use it – but 7 million people in the UK don’t have internet access at home and 9 million can’t use the internet without help. When the Widening Digital Participation Programme began in 2017, it was groups of people like these that we wanted to reach. In this article, Nicola Gill, director of the Widening Digital Participation programme at NHS Digital, explores how the initiative has tried to tackle the “digital divide”.
Impact / Outcome
Digital technology was trialled in a range of ways. In Hastings, tablets were used in outreach work with homeless people, enabling health issues to be triaged. Through the Leeds Dementia Pathfinder, people with the condition and their carers were loaned Alexa devices, bringing huge benefits to their wellbeing. The power of social media was harnessed in Stoke-on-Trent as Facebook was used to promote the local breast screening service, proving so successful that the same techniques have now been adopted in other parts of the country.
Our prototype digital health hub was a joint project in Nailsea, Somerset involving a number of organisations and run by volunteers. Over two years later, it is still going strong, having boosted digital skills, signposted users to local health services and motivated them to become healthier.
Funding sources
Public
Key Metrics
Improve digital health literacy in communities by linking up with community organisations
Operating model
Public-private partnershipYear published
01 January 2020