Designing for digital inclusion in healthcare: Catch up on the seminars
In January 2024, Good Things Foundation hosted a series of virtual seminars to share best practice for designing inclusive digital health services. You can now catch up on the seminar series here.
Good Things Foundation is part of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance – a partnership between voluntary and community sector organisations and health and care system partners which seeks to improve access to health and care services, and reduce health inequalities. In January 2024, Good Things Foundation hosted a series of virtual seminars as part of our Alliance work, with the aim of helping digital health service designers navigate the guidance and best practice developed by Alliance members. Along with our Alliancecolleagues, with their expertise of engaging inclusion health groups and those that are digitally excluded, we explored the barriers for certain groups, shared research, insights, and examples of best practice for designing inclusive digital health services.
You can access recordings, slides and key takeaways from the seminar series below.
Seminar 1: Exploring the intersection between digital and health inequalities
To kick off the series we explored the health inequalities and protected characteristics of those most at risk of digital exclusion. There were presentations from health system partners, Good Things’ Dr Emma Stone, and VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance members including the Valuing People Alliance; Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Consortium; and British Red Cross.
Watch the seminar
Seminar 2: ‘Exploring the barriers that exclude people from digital health services, and how to remove them’
In the second seminar of the series, we highlighted the barriers that consistently affect marginalised groups from becoming digitally included and recommendations for overcoming them. There were presentations from Good Things’ Katie Heard, and our VCSE Health and Wellbeing colleagues at Hospice UK, Race Equality Foundation and Barnardo’s.
Watch the seminar
Seminar 3: ‘Designing inclusive digital healthcare services – lessons and principles’
In the final seminar of the series we explore principles for putting these learnings for digital inclusion in health services into practice. There were presentations highlighting the NHS Framework for Action on Digital Inclusion, and drawing together insights from a range of ‘top tips’ and best practice guidance developed by VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance members.
Carers UK and British Red Cross presented learnings from their recent projects on virtual wards, and South Tees NHS Foundation Trust’s Lead Digital Midwife shared how they have been navigating digital exclusion within maternity care.