VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance
Good Things Foundation is a member of the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) Health and Wellbeing Alliance 2021-2024. The HW Alliance is supported by the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency. It is a partnership between the VCSE sector and the health and care system to share expertise with the aim of improving services for all communities in England. We are one of 20 VCSE consortia taking part. Our membership of the HW Alliance allows us to highlight issues around digital inclusion and inequalities, and work with policy teams in the health and care system as well as other HW Alliance members to improve services and reduce inequalities.
We believe digital is now a wider determinant of health. As well as shaping access to health and care services, digital impacts across all aspects of our lives affecting our opportunities and shaping health inequalities. Digital technologies and online services can improve health and wellbeing – as long as people have the access, skills, confidence and support to benefit.
Below you can find links to resources we’ve created as members of the HW Alliance, and reports from past programmes, such as the NHS Widening Digital Participation programme (2013-2020).
Resources supported by the HW Alliance:
- Practical guide on health inequalities and mitigating risks of digital exclusion (2022) This looks at available evidence with regard to protected characteristics and health inequalities groups, and includes a list of resources and suggested actions to take
- Supporting digital inclusion in general practice (2023)
This practical resource provides ‘top tips’ and case studies for healthcare staff on making digital access more inclusive, and for VCSE organisations working with GP surgeries and other primary care providers. This has been supported by the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance. The ‘top tips’ for healthcare staff can also be found on NHS England’s website. - Accessibility and Inclusion guidance for HW Alliance members (2023)
Other Good Things Foundation resources on digital inclusion in health and care:
- Lessons learned: Digital inclusion in health and care (2020)
- Evaluation – Digital health hubs (2020)
- Briefing paper: Digital exclusion and health inequalities (2021)
- Practical guide: Doing digital in later life (2022)
- Evaluation: Digital Lifeline (2022)
Designing for Digital Inclusion in Healthcare Webinars
In January 2024 we hosted an online seminar series, with contributions from a range of VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance colleagues sharing learnings, case studies and examples of best practice centred on ‘Designing for Digital Inclusion in Healthcare’. You can catch up on the recordings, or access slides and key takeaways here.
If you would like to found out more about our work with the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, please contact a member of the project team:
- Dr Emma Stone, Director of Evidence and Engagement emma.stone@goodthingsfoundation.org
- Katie Heard, Head of Research and Data Insights
katie.heard@goodthingsfoundation.org
- Andrew Rice, Project Manager
andrew.rice@goodthingsfoundation.org
