For the last year, 100% Digital Leeds has been supporting Leeds Skyline, an HIV support service based at BHA For Equality, to design, develop and grow their digital inclusion offer.
Leeds Skyline works with clients who are affected by HIV to provide them with the support and services they need to live healthy, happy, and independent lives following their diagnosis. Leeds Skyline identified that many of their clients were experiencing digital exclusion which was exacerbating their health inequalities.
100% Digital Leeds worked with Leeds Skyline to build the organisation’s digital inclusion offer. This included identifying the barriers to digital inclusion faced by their clients, identifying funding to buy new equipment, and delivering digital skills sessions using a person-centred approach.
“This group is a brilliant idea and I really needed it. I can check when my bus is coming now without having to stand for a long time at the bus stop.”
Leeds Skyline client, following a drop-in digital skills session.
Understanding digital exclusion for Leeds Skyline clients
BHA For Equality is a charity that runs health services across the North of England to support people who are disadvantaged by healthcare systems, and advocate for equitable healthcare for marginalised communities. Their HIV support service, Leeds Skyline, is a free, safe, and confidential service which offers both emotional and practical support for people affected by HIV. Their services include peer mentoring, counselling, support groups, activity groups, and one-to-one support.
While delivering support sessions, it became clear to staff that clients were experiencing barriers to engaging with digital tools and technology, and that clients’ lack of digital skills and confidence was having a detrimental impact on their ability to access statutory services.
Leeds Skyline approached 100% Digital Leeds to discuss how the team might be able to help with clients’ digital inclusion. The 100% Digital Leeds team delivered a digital inclusion awareness workshop with Leeds Skyline staff, including Support Workers and volunteers, to better understand the barriers to digital inclusion that clients were facing, and what effect this had on their lives.
“From support sessions it’s been clear how digitally excluded people are, and how stressful it is for our clients to have to use systems that they didn’t grow up with. They are having to adapt to digital because that’s how the world is now.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Staff identified that their clients were struggling with things like booking medical appointments online, accessing Universal Credit, and signing up to Leeds Homes to bid for social housing. They explained that often their clients are comfortable with using widespread digital technology like Facebook and WhatsApp, but weren’t as confident with less well-known digital platforms and tools. Staff shared that there was also a lot of fear amongst clients, especially older clients, about the risk of online scams and fraud.
Staff explained that some clients experience many different additional needs alongside their HIV diagnosis, which can compound digital exclusion. These needs include homelessness, poverty, immigration issues, language and literacy issues, and other long-term health conditions, including mental health issues.
Staff also explained that some clients do not have access to the right digital equipment, and that Leeds Skyline didn’t have any digital equipment to use with clients outside of staff members’ work laptops.
Clients’ inability to engage with the digital world independently meant that a lot of the time staff were supporting clients to register with online accounts, get logged in, and completing online forms for clients.
“You can’t join Leeds Homes or have a bidding number without going online and helping people to do that is something that comes up quite a lot. Clients also struggle with booking medical appointments and dealing with Universal Credit. You must do it online and these aren’t things our clients can easily do. I think if people could choose not to do them, they probably would, but that’s not an option, so we help with registering, thinking of passwords, and logging in.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Supporting Leeds Skyline to access resources and develop staff skills
100% Digital Leeds awarded Leeds Skyline £5,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to buy digital equipment to use with their clients to increase digital skills and confidence, and to provide connectivity for clients. Leeds Skyline purchased tablets and headphones and a charging cabinet to make sure that their equipment was stored securely, charged, and ready for use.
“The tablets will mean that the service users will be more equipped to send their own emails, set up their own Patchs appointments, and shop online. This, in time, will reduce pressure from the team, who find themselves supporting service users with emails and online GP appointments weekly.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Leeds Skyline initially felt their staff didn’t have the skills, confidence or capacity to support clients to learn the digital skills needed to engage with digital tools independently. 100% Digital Leeds linked Leeds Skyline with Out Together, a charity that has also received support from 100% Digital Leeds to develop their approach to supporting digital inclusion. Staff from Leeds Skyline shadowed Out Together’s digital skills sessions, increasing their confidence to deliver similar sessions at Skyline.
“It was encouraging seeing how a little bit of digital knowledge goes a long way, once you’re explaining it to a group. It felt doable.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Digital drop-in sessions
100% Digital Leeds supported Leeds Skyline to access short-term additional skills and capacity to develop and deliver weekly digital drop-in sessions by linking the organisation with Voluntary Action Leeds. 100% Digital Leeds had previously supported Voluntary Action Leeds with UKSPF Funding to fund a Digital Capacity Officer. This role involves delivering digital inclusion support sessions in partnership with community organisations across the city and building people’s confidence to use digital tools and services. The Digital Capacity Officer worked with Leeds Skyline to develop and deliver informal digital skills sessions in relaxed and social settings where clients were supported with their issues or questions. The social element of the sessions allowed clients to see common issues shared by the group, which made people feel more comfortable in sharing their own digital issues.
“We found that while I was helping someone, other people would hear what I was saying and then anyone in the group who also had that issue or wanted to learn that skill would say that they had an interest in also learning about that. So then, it might end up being three or four people I was helping. This meant that they might come for one particular thing they need help with but then they’ll learn a lot just by hearing other people’s comments and questions.”
Katie, Digital Capacity Officer, Voluntary Action Leeds.
Clients were able to access the sessions in the familiar surroundings of the Skyline office, from staff that they already have a trusted relationship with, and who know them and their personal circumstances. Leeds Skyline supported Voluntary Action Leeds’s Digital Capacity Officer to develop relationships with the participants which meant that she could have more impactful conversations about what was important to them.
“Fran and I working as a team has been great because she is someone that they’re already familiar with and they have a trusted relationship with her. This really helped in the beginning because I already had that trusted person with me, and then I’ve been able to build relationships over time. It’s nice to know that they feel safe with me, that if they have any issues, they can just come to me and it doesn’t matter how big or small it is. They know that I’ll do the best I can to support them with whatever it is.”
Katie, Digital Capacity Officer, Voluntary Action Leeds.
Leeds Skyline’s digital drop-in sessions have been very well attended, with clients expressing the many ways in which the support has enabled them to do the things that are important to them.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know buses had apps! Now I just check when the next one’s coming, it’s so much easier.”
“I struggled to open documents that the doctors sent me via email, now I can open them with my Google Drive! So much better.”
“I’m so glad I can now add attachments to my emails. I can send pictures to my family without needing to always print them out.”
Skyline clients after attending digital inclusion sessions.
Having positive digital conversations with clients has been key to the success of the sessions, with participants feeling comfortable to talk about their lives, allowing Leeds Skyline and Voluntary Action Leeds to use digital tools and technology as enablers to support clients with the things that are important to them.
“Being involved in those conversations and really getting to know the clients has been so important, because it’s from those conversations where I’ve said, ‘OK, you’ve gone to see your friend in the hospital, how did you get there? Did you get there by bus? Do you have the app for the bus so you know what time the next one comes? Why don’t I help you download it?’ and then it means that the support is actually helping them with something specific to their lives.”
Katie, Digital Capacity Officer, Voluntary Action Leeds.
Embedding digital inclusion support into non-digital sessions
Leeds Skyline’s approach to all of their support work is to make sure that it is person-centred. Support is based around people’s individual interests and needs and is aimed at building on people’s strengths. This was the same approach that they took when designing their digital inclusion offer.
“We always like to think about people’s strengths, so that linked into our thinking about what digital tools people were already interested and comfortable with. For example, we know that WhatsApp is amazing if you’re on a budget and you’ve got to keep in contact with someone you love in another country. So we’ve tried to build our digital inclusion approach by starting with people’s strengths and focusing on what the fun and enjoyable activities are rather than going straight into telling people, ‘You are now learning a skill”.
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Leeds Skyline embedded the use of their digital equipment across their different services, giving clients the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the tablets outside of a ‘digital’ session, and helping staff to explore how the tablets can help to enable organisational aims and objectives. This has meant that clients can see how digital tools and technology can impact on their lives in a way that is more relevant to the services they’re accessing, and therefore more meaningful to them.
“We ran a cancer awareness course and the tablets came in handy for fun quizzes about food choices. We downloaded a label reader app to help clients decode health info on food. We have also been using them in client one-to-ones for things like bidding on Leeds Homes or resetting a password. It is more empowering than if I used my laptop because the process looks the same as on a phone but it is bigger and easier for two people to see. It also means that I don’t have to handle someone’s private phone.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Leeds Skyline found creative approaches to digital inclusion are less intimidating than a formal digital skills session, and more familiar, engaging, and accessible for clients.
“We have been introducing the tablets by stealth. We use them for games at our coffee mornings, using them for inspiration on a craft activity for looking up designs to decorate plant pots, and doing a guided meditation with headphones at the LGBT group. We have focussed on sharing music and finding things on YouTube and talked about what kinds of music are meaningful and mood-boosting to each person. That was particularly lovely because we’ve got one client who is very musical and confident in the field of music. He finds any sort of formal written task terribly difficult, so it was fantastic just seeing him negotiate YouTube and be totally in his element, but with this device in his hand.”
Fran, Support Worker, Leeds Skyline.
Next steps
100% Digital Leeds will continue to support Leeds Skyline to embed their digital inclusion work across the organisation and to work towards making their digital inclusion offer sustainable. Leeds Skyline are keen to explore funding opportunities to build capacity within the team to support digital inclusion as they have seen the enthusiasm from their clients, and the difference that it makes to their lives.