Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to help (a) older and (b) digitally illiterate demographics in using online NHS booking services for GP appointments in Surrey Heath constituency.

It is for local National Health Service organisations to adopt digital health technologies and services which best meet the needs of their local populations. However, 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. The GP Contract is also clear that patients should always have the option of visiting their practice in person. NHS England successfully ran 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 NHS digital health products and services in languages other than English.

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