Overview
Digital inclusion means ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to develop their skills andconfidence and can access an appropriate device andconnectivity to do the things they want to do online.The Scottish Government’s Digital Health and CareDirectorate are working on a new programme,delivered in partnership with the Scottish Council forVoluntary Organisations and Connecting Scotland,that will focus on digital inclusion in Mental Healthand Housing.
Existing work on digital inclusion within Digital Health and Care has involved the Digital Social Care (Care Homes) and Digital Lifelines programmes which have enabled connectivity and digital skills for specific groups – residents and staff in care homes and for people who use drugs, at risk of harm /death, respectively.
Learning from these programmes and other work across Scotland (and further afield) has provided a wealth of insight on challenges and opportunities for digital inclusion to inform the design of the new programme. In addition, evaluation of the Connecting Scotland programme documents key benefits that digital access can provide, many of which have positive impacts for health and wellbeing.
The new programme will seek to harness the knowledge and learning from previous work to avoid ‘rediscovering or reinventing’ and ensure opportunities for impact are maximised. In addition the new programme will make a key contribution to the Digital Access and Digital Services priorities in the Digital Health and Care Strategy and associated delivery plan.
Programme Summary
If you wish to discuss the programme please get in touch with us:Â nss.DigitalInclusion@nhs.scotÂ
Latest News:Â
Digital Pioneers Funding Call
The fund will support impactful digital inclusion work to develop, test and implement digital inclusion models in the mental health context that:Â Â
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Support people to have greater access to and awareness of digital services and resources that can support them to live well, self-manage and positively impact their wider health and wellbeing.Â
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Support people who are digitally excluded and those working with them, e.g. staff, peer supporters, volunteers, to be digitally confident and develop essential digital skills.Â
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Support people to have access to opportunities online and connections to communities that are important to them for their health and wellbeing.Â
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Contribute learning to understand scale and sustainability of models of digital inclusion in mental health.Â
What we want to learn through this fund :Â
The Digital Inclusion for Mental Health and Housing Programme uses an approach that will work collaboratively with organisations with experience of delivering digital inclusion work, to identify, develop and share best practice in digital inclusion delivery to meet the needs of people in a mental health context. Through the programme we seek to understand the digital inclusion needs for people living with a mental health condition exploring:
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Digital Pioneers
We invite you to attend our Digital Pioneers Information session. Information sessions will introduce the funds, covering the eligibility criteria, aims of the funds and the outcomes applicants are expected to meet.We’ll talk through the application process and monitoring and reporting requirements as well as having time for you to ask questions. We look forward to hearing from you.
Digital Pioneer Mental Health Fund Information Session – 11am, Tuesday 18th April – https://scvo.scot/events/a1v3z00000LEFkjAAH/digital-pioneers-mental-health-fund-information-session
Digital Pioneer Housing Fund Information Session – 11am, Wednesday 19th April – https://scvo.scot/events/a1v3z00000LEFkeAAH/digital-pioneers-housing-fund-information-session
March Stakeholder Events
On the 1st & 2nd March we held a Stakeholder Event day for Mental Health and Housing to learn more from our stakeholders to help shape our programme. Thank you to those who attended our Digital Inclusion Stakeholder Event Days. A draft summary of the insights collected during the events can be found here: