100% Digital Leeds partnered with Local Care Partnerships (LCP) in Leeds to develop a community-based approach to support digital inclusion for improved digital health participation, with Digital Health Hubs at the heart. The approach was developed and evaluated with Beeston and Middleton LCP and the development model was finessed with York Road LCP. The approach will be rolled-out across the city in an ambitious 24 month plan. The staged implementation plan will start in October 2022 with the support of over £200,000 in Health Inequalities funding which will increase third sector capacity for supporting digital inclusion.

Working with Local Care Partnerships to reduce health inequalities

Local Care Partnerships (LCPs) are place-based cross-sector networks bringing together partners from the health, public, and third sectors to deliver joined-up collaborative care that meets needs of the local population, reducing health inequalities.

Being digitally included enables people to make an informed choice in how they engage with services. It means they have equal opportunity of access to inclusive digital services so they can utilise the full range of available health tools and services, appropriately and as necessary, at the right time, and in the right way for them. Digital inclusion supports people to manage their health and wellbeing. The approach directly supports people to have greater motivation, access, skills, and knowledge to make use of digital to better self-manage their conditions, reducing appointments and hospital admissions.

100% Digital Leeds and the LCP Development team will work in partnership to understand the health and digital inclusion needs of the residents in each LCP area. Each LCP will develop a network of local Digital Health Hubs acting as key digital inclusion delivery partners, tailored to meet the needs of the local community.

The community-based approach to supporting digital inclusion for improved digital health participation

The 100% Digital Leeds model supports the co-design of custom digital health inclusion interventions based on community need and assets.

The foundation principles of the approach

Community based

Tailored to meet the needs of a specific community. ‘Community’ could be a geographical community or community of interest. As such the model can be applied in any community so is scalable for areas of any size, geography and demographics.

Holistic and person-centred

Barriers, needs, and motivations differ from person to person. We support people to do the things that matter to them.

Sustainable

We strengthen the community to empower the person, supporting services to be adaptive and flexible to the changing needs and priorities of the communities they work with and in. We build on existing strengths and assets, embedding digital inclusion across services, making it an integral part of their offer.

The implementation plan

The approach will be rolled-out across the city in an ambitious 24 month plan launching September, with work starting in October 2022.

3 waves

Implementation will happen in a series of 6 month waves. Each wave will see 100% Digital Leeds working with 3 or 4 LCPs simultaneously. Over each 6 month period 100% Digital Leeds will deliver a series of development workshops. Each LCP will develop a place-based network of Digital Health Hubs reflecting the needs of their local community.

6 workshops in each wave

For each wave 100% Digital Leeds will deliver a series of 6 workshops, each introducing a stage of the development model. Between workshops each LCP will work independently to implement the model in a way that works for their place, building on local strengths and assets.

This series of workshops will act as a kick off, engaging potential partners, helping them to understand their potential role in the delivery of the approach, and supporting them to develop their digital inclusion and health participation support offer. Though much of the implementation work will take place during this 6 month period, LCPs and individual partners will develop at their own pace and 100% Digital Leeds will continue to support this process going forward.

6 key roles in the community-based approach

The community-based approach relies on all partners in a place playing a role in supporting the digital inclusion and health participation of the people they work with. The approach relies on partners from across all sectors motivating people to engage with digital and signposting to the support available at Digital Health Hubs. Each partner’s role depends on capacity, strengths, and opportunity. Any given partner can play one or more of these 6 key roles.

4 stages to developing a Digital Health Hub

Digital Health Hubs are the key delivery partners at the heart of the community-based approach. Developing as a Digital Health Hub is a process that differs from partner to partner. Each organisation comes from a different starting point, develops at its own pace according to resource, confidence, and capacity, and develops their offer differently to reflect the needs of the communities they work with and in. To simplify the complex and multifaceted issue of supporting digital inclusion for improved health participation.