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Through our continued development and deployment of enhanced digital systems throughout our Trust’s care pathways, we know how important it is to ensure that our new digital approaches do not introduce additional barriers for our service users, carers and our staff.

A personalised approach to service provision

Digital inclusion has never been more significant for the NHS, whatever benefits we achieve through the deployment of new digital technologies, we will ensure that individuals are not being excluded from accessing our services.

As we continue to implement digitally enabled care pathways across MPFT, we need to make sure we understand when our service users have the capability and the skills to use the internet and associated technology such as smartphones, to be able to access care, and when we need to provide personalised, alternative approaches.

“I am concerned that the use of technology is steaming ahead as fait accompli and leaving the very real need - for some people - behind.” 
MPFT Service User

Through our engagement surveys we know that 35% of our service users were deemed to require accessibility or tailored digital solutions in their care, with 9% deemed to currently not be suitable to have digital solutions as part of their care package through either skills, ability or affordability of the proposed Trust digital care offers.

MPFT Digital will work with our operational and care process owners across all of our care pathways to ensure that we have tailored approaches in place for all service users.

We will identify key transition points as part of the service user pathway where digital exclusion is more likely to occur and focus on supporting individuals at these key points. We will be mindful of any accessibility needs, ensuring disabilities of any kind are supported and we are inclusive in our tailored approaches.

“A lot of young people prefer to have face to face sessions still even though there is an assumption that young people live their lives on their phones.”
Baljit Kaur Nhal, Community Mental Health Support Team Leader, Shropshire

During our initial contact with new service users within any of our services, we will ensure our systems are capable of capturing the preferred contact method and updated contact details, in addition to any considerations for digital access there may be. For example, a user’s email address being captured does not mean they have a smart phone to access emails from, or even if they wish to be contacted via email.

Capturing this information can ensure no assumptions are made in our communications and care access approaches in line with the NHS England Accessible Information Standards 2015.

We will also continue to be responsive to new needs.

“Digital technology is only good if it’s easy to learn and use regardless of your digital technology skills. The majority of our service users are very savvy with IT and NHS services need to keep abreast of this. We also cater to a cohort of patients with low levels of literacy or no access to digital equipment, we must always continue to allow for these people and not leave them behind unable to access our services.”
Marion Hough, General Manager, Sexual Health Staffordshire

Areas can be overlooked on occasion and new systems features may sometimes inadvertently introduce digital access issues that were not anticipated.

On these occasions, our teams will collaborate at pace and with flexibility to ensure the need is addressed.

This may be training, supplementary support, additional accessibility solutions deployment or clearer sign-posting to non-digital means of achieving the same care or process outcome.

We will support a neurodiverse workforce by making sure there is access to suitable supporting equipment and software to enable everyone to undertake their work, including: screen readers, speech to text and mind mapping software.

We will also ensure that continual improvement processes on our systems, standard operating procedures and workforce training support equality and inclusion.

Through regular reviews of our data quality within our corporate and clinical systems, we can detect if protected characteristics, preferences and accessibility needs are being captured consistently. As an example, this will include a broader choice for gender identity within our systems.

Our data quality reporting processes will identify this and enable proactive steps to be taken. This is really important not just for an individual to feel validated and to be addressed correctly, but for our equality monitoring and personalised care approaches.

Technical support

We know how distressing a disrupted or failed digital consultation, group therapy or disconnected phone call can be.

For whatever reason, when a digital care session is disrupted, we will ensure we have a support plan in place so that both service user and carer know what to do if the technology fails.

Through simple checks before and during any care session, we can revert to alternative means of contact in the event of technical failure so that appointments are not wasted and vital care is not missed.

We know from our wide-ranging service provision across the country that digital exclusion can often be caused by social and economic factors.

We will bring together people to co-produce digital inclusion services and programmes that reflect the local need, and we will discuss with commissioners how the cost of digital inclusion will be covered in the service commission. We will also discuss with our suppliers their social responsibilities and build these into our contract and procurement processes.

There is a clear need to be more consistent as a Trust in our capacity to safely loan equipment and devices for the purposes of accessing care.

Where device loans may not be appropriate or feasible, such as a lack of local connectivity, we will also introduce means of offering the use of on-premise equipment in one of our Trust locations where it is appropriate to do so.

For our inpatient services, we will ensure that we can offer secure and supported means for our service users to access digital services such as digital entertainment and video call technology.

During the pandemic, the Trust had to limit family visits to inpatient areas and the need for a secure and supported means of service user and family calling was highlighted as a key priority to ensure people did not feel isolated.

Simple, easy to understand language

We will develop materials that explain technical and care terminology in simple language and multi-language versions, to ensure that the information we provide is understood.

Our websites, leaflets, verbal guidance and training materials will ensure that health literacy is a key element of the services we offer our service users.

These supporting materials will be available in a variety of languages and in both online, physical and easy read formats.

Through our enhanced service user feedback processes, we can ensure that the experience of our service users are consistently reviewed and responded to when certain areas may need changing.

“We need to ensure inclusivity. Our training guides need to be multi-lingual as we have many service users where English isn’t their first language” – Shingirayi Kapfunde, Forensic Inequalities lead for MPFT within the Reach Out Partnership

Our remote working staff can also suffer from digital exclusion depending on their home environment and location.

Whilst the Trust provides updated equipment for all staff, we cannot always guarantee that our staff home working environments has sufficient connectivity to undertake reliable digital care.

Throughout the pandemic MPFT Digital have been working closely with staff to respond to individual needs, for example, connecting smartphones to wi-fi calling in poor signal areas and equipping staff with dongles in poor broadband connectivity areas. These tailored approaches will continue as part of our agile working support approach.

Our voluntary support staff that we have across the organisation also need to be factored into everything we do digitally. We need to continue to ensure that as our digital approaches to equipment, licencing and training are updated and further developed. We will make sure that our volunteers are included and have the same digital support benefits as substantive and temporary staff.

  • Not making assumptions about preferred care approach or contact approach for our service users and staff. Capture of digital use and digital capability information, including communication preferences.
  • Use data quality reporting to ensure that protected characteristics and service user and staff preferences are routinely captured.
  • We will make no assumptions on digital capability or suitability based on any of the protected characteristics. We will always gain an understanding of our service users’ preferred choice and that of our staff.
  • We will seek understanding of skills, connectivity and accessibility and offer tailored approaches and support where needs are identified.
  • We will create flexible means of loaning different equipment types for access to care where it is appropriate to do so.
  • We will create supported means of accessing digital services from Trust premises, for example, digital access booths with wheelchair access and remote Interpreting/Translation Services.
  • We will continue working on ensuring our systems meet all of our users requirements and in our approach to consolidating systems in use across the Trust. We will not exclude service users and ensure tailored approaches are adopted to achieve consistent outcomes.

  • Ensuring all protected characteristics and individual preferences are captured as mandatory fields within the systems we use so that staff have to capture consent.
  • Making information accessible to our staff through chat bots on our MPFT Wiki Knowledge base and use of QR codes to key links.
  • Implement patient entertainment and video call services for our inpatients and outpatients.
  • Implement accessibility solutions across our digital platforms such as voice to text, captions on systems, easy read options for digital systems and website content and translation services. These solutions will be in line with the Equality Act 2020 and the NHS England Accessible Information Standards 2015 to ensure the right platforms are used depending on individual need.
  • Communicate and share guidance on Accessible Information Standards resources to our workforce via our dedicated intranet site.
  • Enhancement of our service user and staff training offers, for example, accessible videos, written easy read, multi-lingual guides and training sessions. We will make sure digital inclusion approaches, health literacy and technology literacy guidance is available to all Trust service users ahead of their care appointment. Skills will be tailored to support everyday living following the care period.
  • Ensure more data collection is undertaken to identify access via face-to-face, telephone and video consultations. Capturing how this access differs with respect to relevant protected characteristics and health inclusion groups. Presenting this on accessible self-service business intelligence dashboards.
  • Equip priority Trust premises with bookable digital booths that can assure digital connectivity for service users, carers and staff use. We aim to provide signposting to partner arrangements that offer free digital access services, for example, libraries.
  • Deployment of accessible alternatives to standardised digital video consultation solutions which rely upon computer, tablet or smartphone access and capability, for example, KOMP and voice activated assistants.

Measures for success

  • Our service user onboarding processes capture consent, preferences, digital competency and digital access and this is reported
  • Our reporting processes evidence uptake and review of protected characteristics including updates for gender identity
  • Our service users and staff have increased accessibility functionality for use of digital video consultations and wider digital platforms
  • Our service users have entertainment and family contact systems available

  • Our service users have bookable booths for digital access across key MPFT sites and clear sign-posting to community offers for digital access
  • Our service user equipment loan process is available and fully supported
  • Our service users have accessible remote consultation platforms that are not available on tablet/laptop/smartphone access if required
  • Our guides and digital content are provided in a number of formats including easy read and multi-language

  • Our ICSs have consolidated, interconnected digital inclusion, social prescribing and equality platforms in place
  • Our preferencing processes result in tailored offers and increased uptake and outcomes for our service users

  • Digitally enabled care pathways are in place that are inclusive across all care settings
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