Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people living in Essex who are digitally excluded have full access to the healthcare services they need.

We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experiences for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support, with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.

NHS England has successfully run a number of programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include:

- the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online;

- the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation, and means to access health information and services online; and

- the NHS App ‘Spoken Word’ Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting National Health Service digital health products and services in languages other than English.

NHS England has published a framework for NHS action on digital inclusion and is developing further resources to support practical actions. All programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion.