Digital Archives

The Digital Health and Social Care Programme explores digital and innovative health and social care technologies to support change.

Find out more about the areas of work within the Digital Health and Social Care programme:

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Supporting transformational change in health and social care by exploring digital and innovative technologies and ways of working.

‘Digital health and social care’ is a board term. It can mean using technology, applications, websites or online services to help us manage our health and wellbeing. It can even help keep us, or those we care for, safe and independent at home. The term also covers technology that is used by health and social care professionals to carry out their roles.

Some examples of digital health and social care:

Step counters
Alarm systems that monitor older or disabled people,
Booking GP appointments or ordering prescriptions online,
a video appointment with your healthcare professional (e.g. NHS Near Me), o monitoring your blood pressure from home (e.g. NHS Connect Me)
mobile applications that help you to manage a long term condition, o NHS websites with healthcare information (e.g. NHS Inform), and even
Robots used in surgery

Interested? Why not read our Discover Digital Guide to learn more about digital health and social care. You can also explore the rest of our page to find out about our work in this area.

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The team participates in a range of partnership programmes and collaborative pieces of work which produce great learning.

The Digital Health and Social Care Programme has a range of workstreams, which are often part of larger pieces of collaborative working, this can be ongoing pieces of work or partnership programme activity.

We would like to ensure people have access to such research, learning and knowledge, inspiring the continuation of service improvement:

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The ALLIANCE, Scottish Care and VOX are supporting five principles for a human rights based approach to digital health and social care.

The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Scottish Care and VOX (Voices Of eXperience) are working together to support the development of rights based digital health and social care policy and practice across Scotland. We are exploring a set of principles for a human rights based approach to digital health and social care.

Engagement

Between June-August 2021, we ran three online workshops to seek a wide variety of views on our draft Principles and how useful they might be. We talked to people who used digital services, those who provided services and support workers who engaged with digitally excluded groups. We also ran an online survey and produced an information pack to support organisations host separate conversations on this topic and submit their views.

Next steps

We have worked to refine the Principles based on what people told us. These ‘new’ Principles still follow the same themes, but are more concise and practical in nature. We will use these Principles to campaign for the better implementation of human rights principles in digital health and social care. We have also worked to identify practice-based examples of how they can be applied in real life scenarios.

Would you like to learn more?

If you work in social care, you can be rewarded for learning more about the Principles in the form of an SSSC Open Badge.

You can also check out an e-learning stack on the Principles here (this link will take you away from our website) and our educational poster here.

About the partners

Use the following links to find out more about the organisations involved in this work:

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Ensuring that the seldom heard voices of lived experience are utilised to shape and inform the development and delivery of Digital Health.

The Digital Citizen Panel (DCP) was created in partnership with the Scottish Government in 2021. It aims to empower citizens to better manage their health and wellbeing with digital options. Members share, learn and influence policy/service design with regular opportunities to meet and maintain progress in our activities.

Our Conversation Café – Bring a Buddy is online, 10.30am 1st Wednesday of the month and open to anyone with an interest in our work. The DCP also meets in person at various local level, supported by the Digital Network Officer (DNO).

The DCP is a growing voice of people and organisations across Scotland. Members share insights on their needs, rights and preferences in relation to accessing digital health and care services. They influence change, offer a supportive and knowledgeable environment.  The DCP is involved in a diverse programme of engagement activity supported by the DNO. This includes national and local consultations; learning/skills development; conferences/events and; social/cultural engagements.

The ALLIANCE Digital Citizen Panel plans to:

• Strengthen the voice of people and organisations across Scotland on their rights and preferences on using digital means to better manage their housing, health and social care needs

• Be part of an inclusive and diverse programme of engagement and communication activity, ensuring people are supported to participate in activities as accessibly as possible

• Share, learn and influence – contributing support to the Digital Health and Social Care Board’s aim of ‘empowering citizens’.

Why not join our free network – a small but growing community of people bringing interest and curiosity to the digital health and social care landscape.

To find out more about the DCP, please email dhcscot@alliance-scotland.org.uk or call us on 0141 404 0231

Working together to help people understand and navigate digital health, care and wellbeing tools and services.

Discover Digital is a project to raise awareness of digital tools which promote health and wellbeing. There are many tools available nowadays. Some can help us look after ourselves better, look after someone else or access the NHS more easily.

Discover Digital Roadshows and Workshops

In February 2023 we launched the Discover Digital Roadshows and Workshops. Which we are offering to communities and organisations free of charge.

The Roadshows bring free and simple digital tools and resources to community events. For example, self management apps and simple guides on digital health and wellbeing.

The Workshops are tailored training sessions on digital health and social care for community and third sector organisations. This is a great way for organisations to build skills and confidence in digital health.

Interested in booking the Roadshows or Workshops? Email us at DHCScot@alliance-scotland.org.uk or call on 0141 404 0231.

Grant Schemes

In 2022 we launched the Discover Digital Participation and Inclusion Grants. These Grants aim to continue engagement work carried out in 2021 and to support organisations to tackle access barriers to digital health and social care. We funded nine organisations, six for the Discovery Grants and three for the Enabler Grants.

The reports for the Discover Grant organisations can be found here, and the reports for the Enabler Grant organisations can be found here.

In 2021 we funded seven organisations to engage with seldom heard communities. We wanted to understand people’s needs with regards to digital health and care skills and hear what improvements could be made.

You can read the insights from the 2021 grants here.

The Discover Digital Guide

The Discover Digital Guide is an online resource and introduction to digital health. It covers digital self management, technology enabled care and digital services in the NHS. It also includes resources where you can get recommendations for tools and services.

Interested in further learning?

We have a SSSC Open Badge where those working in social care can receive recognition for reading the Guide.

We have also published an Open Learn Create Course based on the Guide.

Try A Tool Tuesday

#TryAToolTuesday is a social media initiative that we launched in September 2023, info here. The aim is to raise awareness of free and trusted apps and resources to help people improve and manage their health and wellbeing.

Each Tuesday a new tool is shared across ALLIANCE X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow along on X (formerly Twitter) by searching #TryAToolTuesday.

Also look out for #TryAToolTuesday monthly roundups on our website and the ALLIANCE weekly bulletin.

Past events

You can read more about our past events, delivered as part of the Digital Health and Care Fest, by reading our reports:

Please email dhcscot@alliance-scotland.org.uk to subscribe to our newsletter or follow #DiscoverDigitalScot on Twitter.

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We would love to hear from you. These are some of the ways you can get involved in our current projects and opportunities.

Digital Citizen Panel – join us and you can get involved in Scottish Government consultations around digital health, care and housing, co-plan community events and, take part in the monthly online Conversation Cafes to meet diverse people, interested in digital health and care, from across Scotland.
Discover Digital project – get involved in this project by having one of our Discover Digital Roadshows visit your community event or we can deliver a Discover Digital Workshop to your staff and volunteers. You can also read, and feedback on, our Discover Digital Guide or take part in our online learning.
Human Rights Principles in Digital Health and Social Care – get involved in this important project by showcasing how your organisation is championing our Human Rights Principles in the delivery of its digital service. We would love to highlight its good practice.

Does this sound interesting? Check out each project page for more information or email us at DHCscot@alliance-scotland.org.uk.

We run a quarterly newsletter which includes news and opportunities, subscribe by emailing DHCscot@alliance-scotland.org.uk. You can also follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @DHCScot for more opportunities.

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