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Digital and health literacy

Guides

From NHS Digital

NHS Digital’s annual report and accounts for 2021 to 2022, presented to parliament and printed on 8 November 2022.

The Department of Health and Social Care

A plan for digital health and social care: This document consolidates the different national digital goals and investments detailed in separate sector strategies and guidance into one single action plan for achieving these goals on 4 complementary fronts

NHS Digital

Digital inclusion for health and social care: A guide to help healthcare providers, commissioners, and designers ensure that services delivered digitally are as inclusive as possible, meeting the needs of all sections of the population.

Health Education England

Improving Digital Literacy looks at the specific needs of nursing staff in relation to digital literacy

BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, and the Department of Health

Keeping your online health and social care records safe and secure: this guide is for people who are accessing their own records and who may want to share them with others. It doesn’t include specific advice if they’re using records on behalf of someone else who can’t do it themselves (for example, their children or someone who needs support to make decisions).

Skills for Care

Core digital skills in social care: Core digital skills are the skills and knowledge needed to undertake everyday digital activities relevant to your job role. This can include finding and managing digital information, sharing personal data digitally, using digital technology and making use of e-learning. It may involve using a personal computer, laptop, tablet or phone.

JISC

Getting started with accessibility and inclusion: A quick guide on how to design systems to optimise digital access.

HM Government

SHARE: SHARE is a checklist to help *”you spot false information and make sure you don’t contribute to the spread of harmful content”. Links to reputable NHS and government websites

Reports

NHSX

Listening to digital health innovators report 2021: This report, compiled in the spring of 2021, reflects the impact of the pandemic for companies who have been working closely with the NHS and social care. The past year has challenged health systems globally and seen rapid growth in digital health care in many countries across the world. We have sought to lead the way in the NHS in England and a number of digital health solutions have made an enormous contribution, such as connecting citizens with clinical teams, enabling care and consultations to continue at a distance, providing remote specialist advice or through linking up care homes to medical support. The pace has also been remarkable, with deployments taking place within days and weeks rather than months or years, with no corners cut but decision making happening at the speed of light and brilliant team work to ensure patients benefit as rapidly as possible.

Patient Information Forum

Health and Digital Literacy Survey 19/20: In 2020, as the UK struggled with COVID-19, the need for user-friendly health information and access to digital healthcare came centre stage. The pandemic exposed existing health inequalities, hitting disadvantaged communities hardest. It emphasised the links between low health literacy, digital literacy and health inequality.
The 2019 survey was a repeat of our 2013 survey but questions were expanded to cover digital literacy for the first time. Responses to the survey were received from 175 cross-sector health organisations operating in the UK, including NHS trusts, patient groups and the voluntary and private sectors.

Centre for Ageing Better

COVID-19 and the digital divide: the Centre for Ageing Better commissioned Citizens Online, a digital skills and inclusion charity, to conduct a research project to understand more about the effect of COVID-19 on digital skills and usage. The research was conducted with a range of organisations, local authorities, and people aged 50-70.

Patient Coalition for AI, Data and Digital Tech in Health

Digital health during the Covid-19 pandemic - Learning lessons to maintain momentum: The Patient Coalition for AI, Data and Digital Tech in Health has produced this report to improve our understanding of the role of digital health technology during the pandemic. In particular, given our focus on championing the patient perspective, this report focuses on shedding light on the patient experience of these technologies. We have drawn on in-depth research, a new patient survey and a collection of case studies of good practice in digital health technology to provide useful insights and policy recommendations

Public Health Wales

Digital technology and health inequalities - a scoping review: National governments and local systems are all seeking to make good and widespread use of digital technologies in the health system. This report draws on existing literature to provide a framework for considering how lack of access, skills and motivation for using digital technologies could affect health outcomes.

NHSX

NHSX Adult Social Care Technology and Digital Skills Review: To help speed up the digital transformation of adult social care (ASC), NHSX recently commissioned reviews of the current extent of digital technologies and digital skills in the sector and how both could be scaled up. The reviews’ findings and recommendations are summarised in this chapter

Good Things Foundation

Digital Inclusion in Health and Care: Lessons learned from the NHS Widening Digital Participation Programme (2017-2020): Good Things Foundation worked with NHSX, NHS Digital, NHS England and local partners in health, social care, and community sectors to widen digital participation in health and care. In the context of COVID-19, the lessons learned could not be more timely.

The King's Fund

Shaping the future of digital technology in health and social care
This report, commissioned by the Health Foundation, provides a summary of evidence for how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, smartphones, wearable devices and the internet of things are being used within care settings around the world.