WIREDGOV

A digital health hub piloted in Nailsea has proved to be such a success that the NHS is scaling it up across England, as demand increases from councils in North West London, the Wirral, Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Stafford.

65 High Street, known as ‘Nailsea Place’, is a digital health and wellbeing learning centre. The local venue, which was established in 2018, has become a trusted place on the high street where staff and volunteers can help people to improve their digital skills and confidence, so they can engage with online services. 

The initiative has so far engaged 1,340 people including those with dementia, diabetes, autism and those acting as young carers. Assistance offered ranges from contacting friends and family over Skype, to ordering a repeat prescription, to choosing a preferred hospital provider for a surgery or appointment.

The project is a partnership between local NHS services, Nailsea Town Council and Healthwatch and is supported by local volunteers, including local students, who provide one to one support. It has also seen support from local organisations to national charities, who have run group meetings or hosted private sessions for the people of Nailsea.

Organisations in five new areas will now use their own digital health hubs to learn what works in their area. Using the learnings from existing Pathfinders, including Nailsea, they’ll will be making sure the most excluded in their boroughs have the chance to benefit from digital. This second wave of hubs will be in Blackburn with Darwen Library, Staffordshire Refugee Centre (ASHA), a community centre in Saltburn and the Grenfell victims support centre in NW London. Each will be designing a welcoming environment and giving people the opportunity to learn more about their health, and whatever else they need at that moment in time.

Community engagement improves health and wellbeing, helps to generate social connections, facilitates community life and provides support that helps people to be more active. Residents who gain digital skills and confidence are able to take more control over their own health and care online as well as having a say in the help commissioned locally.

Ian Morrell, Development Manager at Nailsea Town Council said, “The digital revolution has created disadvantages which did not previously exist, and many people feel excluded and left behind.  At No. 65, we have aimed to build trust with the local community, and provide one-to-one support, introducing people to technology in an accessible way so they can see the benefits digital can provide.

When people come to us for help with technology, the first thing we do is find out what they need - so we are providing a service that is led by users, and which ensures they get what they want from the support we can offer.”

This project is part of the NHS’s Widening Digital Participation Programme¹, which aims to make digital health services and information accessible to everyone – particularly the most excluded people in society.

Twenty digital inclusion pathfinders² are being run across the country in partnership with the charity Good Things Foundation³ to test new ways to help people access digital tools to improve their health.

Notes to editors

1. The NHS’s three-year Widening Digital Participation programme (WDP) aims to help thousands of people across the UK to boost their digital health skills, as one in 10 people in England lack the confidence and skills to fully benefit from digital, and in turn from the improvements to their health. The programme is focusing on those who are socially excluded and so are most likely to suffer from health inequalities.
2. The pathfinders are partnerships between local organisations including Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities and community groups in areas of high deprivation and digital exclusion. The evidence and insights gathered through these pilot projects have been developed into practical ‘How to Guides’ that can be shared with digital teams in the NHS and across Government to ensure all digital health services and tools are inclusive and accessible to everyone – particularly the most excluded.
3. Good Things Foundation is a social change charity, helping people to improve their lives through digital. Through more than 5,000 Online Centres in communities across the UK, Good Things Foundation helps people gain the support and skills they need to change their lives for the better. Good Things Foundation believes that everyone in the UK should have the confidence, skills, support and access to use digital technology, participate in society and benefit from the digital world.

NHS Digital is the national information and technology partner of the health and care system.  Our team of information analysis, technology and project management experts create, deliver and manage the crucial digital systems, services, products and standards upon which health and care professionals depend.  During the 2017/18 financial year, NHS Digital published 275 statistical reports. Our vision is to harness the power of information and technology to make health and care better.

For media enquiries please contact media@nhsdigital.nhs.net or telephone 0300 30 33 888. Follow us on Twitter: @NHSDigital