‘Discover Digital’ is an initiative to raise awareness of the many digital tools which promote health and wellbeing. The project aims to help people understand how to use digital to look after themselves better, care for someone else or access the National Health Service (NHS) more easily.
2020 highlighted the importance of digital tools for health and wellbeing, but also the various barriers that some people face when trying to use digital. As a result, Scotland’s Health and Social Care Alliance (known as the ALLIANCE) set out to create a Discover Digital Guide.
The Discover Digital Guide aims to explain what digital health and care is, in an accessible way. It covers three main areas:
- how technology can help people look after their own health
- how it can help people care for others
- how to interact with the NHS and social care digitally.
The resource also highlights where people can go to get recommendations for digital apps, websites and technologies that might be relevant to them.
Throughout 2021, the ALLIANCE is busy connecting with communities. It works with a range of organisations and stakeholders to further understand what support people need in order to discover digital, focusing on groups whose views are not always represented. The ALLIANCE will use the insights from this engagement to update the Discover Digital Guide and make it more accessible, and to share learning and promote good practice in digital health and care more generally.
You can see a short video with some early insights and read one of the engagement reports on the ALLIANCE website.
Why digital?
The ALLIANCE believes digital technologies can enable people to live better. Digital tools, like any other tools, are aids to help people reach their bigger goals. With them, people can be more connected, more informed and more empowered.
The ALLIANCE thinks everyone should be able to access and use digital health and care tools. Everyone should be able to use technology in a way that works for them, whether it is to achieve their own health and wellbeing goals or to look after someone they care for better.
Supporters
‘Discover Digital’ is part of Scotland’s DigiFest. The Scottish Government Digital Health and Care directorate and Technology Enabled Care division are key supporters of the initiative.
EHTEL’s attention was drawn to all these interesting developments by its member from Scotland, NHS National Health Services Scotland.
Visit the official ‘Discover Digital’ website for more information about discovering digital in Scotland.
