Chronic Illnesses: Telemedicine

(asked on 15th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 27 of the NHS Long-Term Plan implementation framework, what proportion of patients with a long-term condition do not have access to a smartphone; and what funding he plans to allocate to increase digital connectivity among those people to enable them to access the NHS App.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 18th July 2019

Information on the proportion of patients with a long-term condition without access to a smart phone is not routinely collected. We are committed to ensuring that all those using the National Health Service have fair and equitable access to high quality, effective healthcare services that are responsive to all patients’ needs.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets a clear directive to offer digital first options for the provision of health and care to meet user needs and create a sustainable health and care system. We will continue to offer people choice in how they access NHS services.

Our mission is to empower people to participate in their health and care using digital services that meet their needs, target prevention and offer a personalised experience.

Whilst interaction with many health and care services will shift to digital over the coming years, this shift will not be obligatory for people who are unable or unwilling to do so. As more people move to digital channels, the time of health professionals will be freed up to spend more time with people with greater needs.

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