NHS Online Consultation - Healthwatch Wandsworth response
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England are working to establish a new online service: NHS Online. This service will deliver online elective care as part of the NHS.
Under current legislation, local Healthwatch must always be consulted when any new NHS trust is proposed.
Healthwatch Wandsworth submitted a response to the consultation.
Key Themes
Opportunities and concerns over increasing use of digital health services
From speaking to residents, health care professionals and voluntary organisations we understand there are a range of barriers that prevent patients using digital health services. These include age, smartphone access (often as a result of digital poverty), communication needs, and language.
Furthermore, there is a substantial percentage of residents who simply prefer to use traditional methods of accessing healthcare, whether this be due to a preference to speak face to face to someone or not feeling confident in using online tools.
In addition, the delivery and acknowledgement of the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was key in making those who had particular communication needs feel confident in using digital health services.
Nevertheless we also acknowledged that there are potential benefits to offering an digital service for residents.
For example:
- Patients who do not have English as first language or by connecting them with staff who speak their language. This would be incredibly useful for a diverse borough such as Wandsworth where a multitude of languages are spoken
- Residents who cannot attend medical meetings or appointments during core hours due to work or other commitments
If NHS Online is going to succeed communication must be clear around how it will work, this must include:
- Explain why NHS Online has been created and what the benefits are
- That using NHS Online is optional
- Ensure that the interface of NHS Online is user-friendly in order to instil confidence in those who want to utilise it
Moving Forward
We have offered to the DHSC and NHS for Helathwatch to support the engagement of residents in order to ensure that the design and delivery of NHS Online takes on board their views.
We have stressed that different groups with different access requirements should be consulted during this process – physical impairments, neurodiverse, minorities, those with learning disabilities.
We have also asked for assurance from the DHSC and NHS that this new service will not put those who do not utilise it at a disadvantage.
