Healthwatch North Somerset receives national award for improving digital inclusion

The annual awards recognise outstanding examples of local people's opinions being used to make valuable changes to health and care support. In the running against 16 other shortlisted projects, we were commended for our work.

Alongside Healthwatch Bristol and Healthwatch South Gloucestershire, we focused on empowering individuals to make small steps towards changing how and when they interact with services.

Topics covered included the NHS app, ordering prescriptions, viewing test results, booking GP appointments, and accessing online consultations. In addition to supporting more than 1000 people, we taught staff in 14 GP practices and seven care homes how to support patients and residents to use online health resources. 

Community groups provided up to 50 volunteers during the project, who continue to support people's digital skills with ongoing sessions in their communities.

Commenting on the award, Louise Ansari, Chief Executive of Healthwatch England said: 

"The team should feel really proud. Our awards recognise outstanding work that makes a real difference to local people, and the competition this year from across England was very high.

"Being recognised is also a testament to all the local people who were prepared to speak up and the health professionals who listened. It just shows what can be achieved when we work together to improve care."

A key part of our work to improve access to online health services was our digital how-to guide. The guide includes detailed instructions, step-by-step processes, and information on:

• accessing the NHS and Patient.info websites
• how to determine if health information is from a trusted source
• creating an NHS login and linking a profile on the NHS app/PatientAccess app to a GP practice
• navigating various GP online services based on user needs (booking appointments, ordering prescriptions, using eConsult/AccuRX and viewing medical records)

These resources have been provided to community groups, libraries, social prescribers, GP staff and pharmacists to support patients outside of a workshop. Workshop attendees often tell us they will be using the guide to help their friends and family. 

The guide is available in Chinese, and we've also created a recorded presentation for anyone would like a reminder of the information we shared or was unable to make it to a session.

Download our how to-guide in English or Chinese, or download our recorded presentation.