‘NHS in Warwickshire should not forget about people struggling with technology and internet access’ says councillor

The NHS in Warwickshire should not forget about people struggling with technology and internet access, according to a county councillor.

And his comments were echoed by members of the public during discussions with health chiefs aimed at helping to shape how places such as GP surgeries treat patients in the coming years.

Cllr John Cooke (Con, Lapworth and West Kenilworth) told this week’s meeting of Warwickshire County Council’s adult social social care and health overview and scrutiny committee: “The government’s default position is that everyone has a computer and that everyone can use the internet and I don’t think a lot of thought has been given to those who haven’t.

“There are some people out there who are frightened to death of some of these things and what I would like to see is a default position where we work out how we are going to deliver the services for the people who cannot use digital. We should prioritise that first.”

His comments came following a presentation from members of the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board, the NHS organisation responsible for developing a plan to meet the county's health and care needs.

Rose Uwins, head of communications and public affairs, told councillors that these meetings would allow them to hear what residents' health priorities were, allowing everyone the opportunity to have their say.

She said: “There are some key themes that are consistent with whichever group we have been out to talk to. The first thing is access to GP services and the second thing that I am hearing more than anything else is trust. It is about the trust that services will be there when people need them. People are genuinely worried about how they access services.

“The final point that has come up is digital and the move to digital services. There are two groups - those who cannot access them and a second group, which is much larger, who just don’t want to and I think it is really important to acknowledge that group.”

"Sometimes they are worried about it and sometimes they need that face-to-face because it goes back to the trust conversation.”

“It is about how we approach digital in the strategy. We can’t just turn everything over to digital and say it's all online now. We have to work with people, understanding what they don’t want to do and how we can make it easier.”

The draft strategy will be presented to NHS England for them to review on December 14.To have your say visit https://www.happyhealthylives.uk/integrated-care-partnership/icp-strategy/