Our one-to-one digital support programme is coming to an end
Healthwatch Digital Champion provides one-to-one, face-to-face support to a resident as the country emerges from the pandemic in 2021.
Healthwatch Islington has been running digital workshops and one-to-one support over the last 9 years. This work started in response to residents telling us they needed help to access online health and wellbeing information to manage their health conditions and increase their health literacy. This groundwork proved increasingly useful as the pandemic struck and meant access to goods and services moved online.
Over the years we’ve supported over 850 Islington residents to increase their confidence. Some of the feedback from this work is captured in these videos we filmed at Islington Somali Community and Islington Bangladesh Association.
Our digital volunteers have won several local and national awards for their efforts and have helped Healthwatch improve our reach into local communities experiencing health inequalities and exclusion so it is a great disappointment that we are having to wind this service down.
Unfortunately, despite a great deal of effort from the staff team to secure sustainable funding for this work, we have not been successful and will no longer be taking referrals for one-to-one work.
We know that Islington’s Adult Community Learning offers some online support, but we have not been able to confirm a provider for one-to-one support for complete beginners. We will raise this gap through the borough’s Challenging Inequality Digital Exclusion working group.
From 2024 onwards we are planning to run several Health & Digital workshops each year. These workshops will cover online tools that residents may find useful in accessing health and care services such as e-consult and the NHS App. We hope to offer some one-to-one support with Digital Champions for these sessions.
Healthwatch Islington Chief Executive Emma Whitby said,
"We know that digital exclusion impacts those experiencing the worst inequalities and that getting people online can save them money, make them feel more connected, and give them access to all sorts of information and support to help their wellbeing. We are extremely grateful to our Digital Champions for all that they have done to help our residents over the years. The staff team are disappointed not to have been able to secure funding to continue our programme, but digital does not appear to be a current priority for funders. "
