Digital Unite, which is an award-winning organisation that supported thousands of people to achieve digital inclusion, recently spoke to colleagues about ELFT's new ‘Champion’ programme.
‘Digital inclusion’ refers to the idea of everybody having the ability and opportunity to access, use and benefit from digital technologies and services – regardless of their personal circumstances.
Research from Digital colleagues found that ELFT service users face higher levels of exclusion than other parts of the NHS, with working-age adults across our boroughs being three times more vulnerable to the digital divide.
Digital Unite spoke with staff and service users at the Trust to learn about the ways we have supported our communities. Talking to the editor, ELFT’s People Participation Lead for Digital, Saleem Haider said the disparity was an “eye-opener”, and that it was essential to “involve, engage and enthuse” service users to tackle this head on.
Following conversations, Saleem said a framework was co-produced – covering accessibility, the creation of a ‘Champion’ programme and life coaching. The training programme aims to help service users grow in confidence by giving them the skills and tools to support others to be more digitally active.
Peter Cozzi, who is a service user at the Trust and one of the project’s co-pilots, was quoted in the piece as saying: “One of our trainees, her children laughed at her when she told them about joining the training programme and that she was going to be a digital life coach. Now she’s running sessions on using the NHS APP for non-English speaking ladies in her area which is great.”
You can read the full article, ‘Teaching Champions in Classes’, on Digital Unite’s website. If you have any questions about the project or ELFT’s efforts to improve digital inclusion, you can contact Saleem at saleem.haider@nhs.net.