Using digital technology could help deliver better care

Using digital technology could help deliver better care

May 27, 2021

Healthwatch Lancashire and Healthwatch Cumbria were recently commissioned to co-facilitate two workshops to help understand the views of people accessing NHS services. Bringing together colleagues from local NHS services and Kaleidoscope Health and Care, we connected with the public to explore how using digital technology could help deliver better care.  

 

The workshops 

We worked with a range of groups to create a diverse bank of participants, this included people living with diabetes, cancer, respiratory illness, the BAME community and those living in rural communities. 

Both workshops were delivered using ‘Zoom’ and took place over 2 hours. 

In the interactive sessions, we focused on five topics: 

  • Pharmacy 
  • Ambulance 
  • Community 
  • Dentistry 
  • Optometry  

For each, we explored a series of tailored questions, each designed to encourage tangible feedback from those taking part.  

 

The questions 

Our five questions were created to help participants share their experiences of using digital services, to find out what worked and what could be improved, and to find out suggestions for ways services could be developed.  

We asked:  

  • Have you had experiences with each of the five services in the last two years? 
  • Where was digital technology involved? 
  • What was good…because?  
  • What would be even better if…? 
  • What would you like to see more of?  

Feedback and views were captured live, using the digital whiteboard JamBoard to note down comments and themes.  

To help reach those who couldn’t attend online, we also shared a digital survey sent out via email to invite further comments and feedback. 

 

A participant said: 

“Thank you for inviting me to the meeting. It was so enlightening to be able to contribute to the conversation about some of my problems with digital tools, and especially to people who are going to help us to use them more easily and effectively. What an amazing group of individuals, and so many difficulties in dealing with technical “improvements ” to our way of life. I am assuming that I will need another link to zoom in tomorrow evening if you don’t mind supplying it.”  

 

What now? 

During the sessions, we worked with participants to visually capture the discussion using JamBoard. The conversation, the experience and the views were heard by representatives from Kaleidoscope Health and Care and The NHS Transformation Unit who joined the workshops.  

We’re grateful to every member of our communities who took part in these workshops. These views and experiences will help local services to plan and shape the ongoing use of digital technologies in our area.