The preventative care revolution depends on closing the digital divide
There’s a clear consenus over maintaining the great national treasure that is the NHS and preserving its ethos of providing care free at the point of delivery. But demand for health services is rising fast as society changes, so how on earth do we afford it?
It’s crucial that the NHS makes the best possible use of the funds available. Preventive care is key objective: by encouraging people to take care of their own health, pre-empting and preventing illness before it happens, the NHS can ensure its limited resources are directed towards those who need them most.
Can technology help with a preventive care revolution in healthcare? Many of us now have constant internet access and can find health information easily. I see it every day: patients use wristwatches, GPS devices and apps to track steps, heart rate, calories burned and other personal statistics.
Technology is helping people to think more intelligently about their lifestyle, exercise regime, diet and overall health. It is also allowing people to complete health transactions online, such as ordering repeat prescriptions, checking hospital reviews or booking hospital and GP appointments.
But here’s the problem: there are 11 million people with low or no digital skills in the UK, and there is a very significant overlap between those who are digitally excluded and those who suffer from health inequalities. Half of all people who are offline have a disability, and among over 65s (who account for half of NHS spending) more than a third (36%) have never been online.
If they remain disengaged from the digital world, they won’t be part of a culture of preventive care.
Digital inclusion has a huge impact on wellbeing, helping people connect with friends and family, find jobs, feel less isolated, save money and access education. But with the preventive care revolution underway, digital inclusion will literally become a matter of life and death. People who don’t have digital skills, confidence or access will lag far behind in being able to manage their own health, leading to worse outcomes. The digital divide will become more grave than ever before.
We’re working with the NHS to engage 100,000 people, and actively train 50,000 by March 2014, to improve their digital health literacy. But more needs to be done. We want GPs and health practitioners to get more involved. Within our network of 5,000 learning centres, a few are located in GP surgeries or other health settings. Tutors will go into a surgery for a couple of hours a week to deliver training using our technology and online learning content. We want GPs to help us develop this model further.
We’re also developing 16 flagship projects that will deliver specialist courses and events, helping very hard-to-reach people gain digital skills and look at health information online. We need private industry to act too. Learning new digital skills in the community is an essential first step, but learning needs to continue at home.
Organisations in the private sector have begun supporting digital inclusion, but they need to do more to make WiFi, tablets, high-speed broadband and mobile phones available at much lower cost.
Our programme with the NHS starts with digital health information, but it has huge potential to cover much more. We want to ensure that everyone, whatever their background, can become digitally health literate and play a significant role in actively managing their own health. With cross-sector support, I’m confident no-one will be left behind.
Helen Milner is chief executive of the Tinder Foundation
http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2013/nov/01/nhs-preventive-care-digital-divide
