Digital Inclusion Is Getting More And More Air Time It Seems But It Is Not Yet Clear How The Problem Is To Be Solved.

This appeared last week:

APO Digital Inclusion Collection brief: August 2019

22 Aug 2019

Chris K. Wilson

APO

Centre for Social Impact Swinburne

DOI http://doi.org/10.25916/5d5b4a45be0d0

Description

This snapshot is inspired by the initiation of the Digital Health Literacy program being piloted for the Australian Digital Health Agency between July and December 2019. This program will deliver training to support people to improve their digital health literacy, including how to find quality, reliable information, as well as understanding how to use and manage their My Health Record.

This snapshot examines the treatment of digital inclusion as a digital health system issue in Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy and the subsequent Framework for Action that details how Australia will deliver the benefits of digitally enabled health and care. It also examines the revised Digital Inclusion Guide for Health and Social Care recently released by the UK National Health Service (NHS). The NHS has long been a leader in addressing digital inclusion as it pursues a digital-first service delivery strategy.

Indeed, the Good Things Foundation, who are piloting Australia’s Digital Health Literacy program, have been delivering a similar Widening Digital Participation program for the NHS since 2013 (see reviews in 2015 and 2016). While the NHS Digital Inclusion Guide points to the importance of skills training (like that offered through the Digital Health Literacy program), it also highlights a broader set of practical interventions necessary to address digital inclusion as a complex multifaceted barrier to equitable digital health outcomes. The guide provides a useful template that could be adapted for use, both in the Australian health sector, and by organisations in other government service sectors undergoing digital transformation.

Here is the link:

https://apo.org.au/node/254176

Two things flow from this:

First the NHS has produced a very useful document with all sorts of practical ideas, which is linked here:

Digital inclusion guide for health and social care

15 Aug 2019

NHS Digital

This guide to digital inclusion is aimed at local health and care organisations to help them to take practical steps increase access to digital services for all in their communities.

It should be relevant to:

• commissioners of health and care services, including clinical commissioning groups – so they can take into account the needs of local populations who may be digitally excluded
• integrated care systems – so they can ensure digital inclusion is central to the design of future services
• providers of health and care services – so they can ensure services delivered digitally are as inclusive as possible
• local authorities and voluntary organisations – so they can make the most of partnerships with the health and care sector to improve digital inclusion
• designers of digital health services – so they can take into account the needs of those who might be digitally excluded, and design inclusive and accessible services

The guide is intended to help you understand:

• what we mean by digital inclusion
• who is likely to be digitally excluded and the barriers they may face
• why digital inclusion matters in health and care
• the benefits of supporting people to get online
• practical steps you can take to support digital inclusion locally
• the tools you can use to commission, provide and evaluate digital inclusion support
• resources for developing digital skills of health and care staff, carers and patients

Publication Details

Copyright: NHS Digital 2019

Language: English

License Type: Open Government Licence v3.0

Published year only: 2019

The link to the resource is here:

https://apo.org.au/node/253846

Second in the brief proper – as I have remarked often previously - the ADHA in its strategic thinking is way behind the curve in its strategy and Framework for Action:

To quote the brief.

“Overall, discussion of digital inclusion in the Strategy is limited to around half a page (of a total of 63 pages). This discussion is included under the incongruous strategic priority of supporting “[a] thriving digital health industry delivering world-class innovation” (p.47). Here the Agency clearly highlights that “while digital innovation is transforming many aspects of our lives, there is not yet equal opportunity for all to participate, particularly those people who make the greatest use of health services”. Given this acknowledgment and the principle of equity, it is perplexing that the Agency does not consider addressing digital inclusion to be one of the six critical success factors of the Strategy (see pp.52-53).

The Agency does call for some direct action on digital inclusion as part of the Strategy – the convening of “stakeholders across the community to develop comprehensive approaches to digital inclusion, ensuring that actions to address digital literacy are based on high-quality evidence for how best to support people who are currently experiencing digital disadvantage” (p.50, my italics). Whilst this is commendable, in limiting action to digital literacy, it does not engage with the access, accessibility and financial barriers to digital inclusion all clearly identified by stakeholders in the consultation process as highlighted on page 49 of the Strategy.”

And:

“The Framework references a miscellaneous collection of existing government and non-government agencies involved in measuring or responding in some way to digital inclusion, but it is not clear how these initiatives align with each other, the Strategy or the Framework (see p.82).

The Australian Digital Health Agency through the National Digital Health Strategy and Framework for Action clearly outlines the many benefits an Australian digital health system will generate. The Agency acknowledges digital inclusion as a barrier to the equitable distribution of the benefits of such a system—nevertheless, addressing this issue does not feature prominently in the Strategy or Framework. The actions to be pursued also focus largely on digital literacy which is just one aspect of digital inclusion. Perhaps digital inclusion would have received greater attention had the Agency considered it to be one of the critical success factors for the Strategy.”

The last sentence is particularly telling.

The bottom line is that there is vastly more work to do in this area and additionally that it is not actually soluble! There will always be a significant number of the population who are ‘digitally excluded’ for what ever reason. The work needs to be directed as keeping the number as low as possible.

This link shows just how hard it can be:

https://theconversation.com/logged-out-farmers-in-far-north-queensland-are-being-left-behind-by-the-digital-economy-121743

If we ever saw any Board Notes from the ADHA maybe we could see if they are now on the job?

David.