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 the NHS provides adequate support to digitally-excluded people in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

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. Digital inclusion is a key priority for the National Health Service as it will support the shift from ‘analogue to digital’. It is one of the five national NHS England Health Inequalities Strategic Priorities, and they published a Digital Healthcare Framework which has guided the approach of integrated care boards.

In line with this, the Lincolnshire Integrated Care System (ICS) has collaboratively developed the Lincolnshire Health and Care Digital Inclusion Strategy 2025-2028 in partnership with ICS organisations and individuals with lived experience. A Patient Participation Group representative from Bourne actively contributed to the oversight group, and extensive engagement with the population groups most at risk of digital exclusion was carried out to support the development of the strategy.

Following on from previously successful initiatives in Mablethorpe utilising community-based digital learning and support from the voluntary sector, a project is underway in Boston, the highest area at risk of digital exclusion, which will provide digital community drop sessions for the local population until March 2026.