Leeds Caring Hands is a charity based in North Leeds Medical Practice that supports their local community of Moortown and Moor Allerton with opportunities to socialise, play games and stay active. The group identified a need for digital support when many patients were unable to use digital health tools to engage with the practice. It became clear that many patients, especially older patients, had barriers to digital inclusion which meant they were unable to use the Patchs app and other online services.
With support from 100% Digital Leeds, Leeds Caring Hands has been working towards better understanding the digital needs of their local community. They have also accessed devices and connectivity to deliver digital drop-in sessions for both patients and the local community run by volunteers at the practice.
Leeds Caring Hands
Leeds Caring Hands launched North Leeds Medical Practice’s Patient Participation Group (PPG) in 2016 to befriend and support lonely, elderly, and vulnerable patients at North Leeds Medical Practice. Funded by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), volunteers initially visited socially isolated people in their homes.
The group applied to be a charity in 2018 to widen the aims of the organisation and to access other funding sources. They identified a space within the practice and were given permission to use it for their current activities and to expand their offer.
Patient Participation Groups are made up of patients from the local community who work together to discuss how their GP practice is functioning and feedback to the practice on what they can do to improve. The PPG functions as a bridge between the patients and the practice. They meet regularly, complete surveys, offer advice and suggestions, and aim to improve the quality of care offered to the community served by the practice.
“Our role is to offer a patient’s perspective and views on the practice’s services. To deliver high quality and locally relevant care, it’s important for our GPs to include us, their patients, in decision making about the services they offer, and evaluate how well they work for patients.”
North Leeds Medical Practice PPG
Run by patients for patients, Leeds Caring Hands provides a variety of activities to support people with their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. Weekly activities include table tennis, art and crafts, games, ping pong, puzzles and digital skills support. In 2023 they were awarded The Kings Award for Voluntary and Community Service, which is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest honour awarded to voluntary groups.
Embedding digital inclusion support
100% Digital Leeds has worked in partnership with Leeds Caring Hands since 2020, delivering digital inclusion awareness workshops to their volunteers to help them to understand the needs of the group and support patients in overcoming barriers to digital inclusion.
Leeds Caring Hands identified a need amongst patients to support with digital health tools including Patchs, which North Leeds Medical Practice has adopted for patients to manage appointments, order prescriptions, and engage with the practice digitally.
With support from 100% Digital Leeds, Leeds Caring Hands set up regular Zoom sessions for patients during COVID, including a quiz and a chat group to support social connections. The group further developed their digital skills and confidence, combatting social isolation by using WhatsApp to chat and feel connected. This was one example of wider digital inclusion activities being led by the group’s personal priorities alongside digital health.
100% Digital Leeds supported Leeds Caring Hands to access funding in 2021 which enabled them to get connectivity for the space they use within the practice. This now provides free wifi for patients and has enabled Leeds Caring Hands to embed digital skills support within their activities.
“We were successful with a funding bid from Halifax to get tablets and wifi to use within the PPG group, to help people learn basic digital skills. When Patchs was launched at the practice, we realised there was a greater need for digital support, and we needed to go much further to widen the area that we covered beyond the PPG. With support from 100% Digital Leeds, we were able to access further funding to get more tablets to develop our digital drop-in sessions for the wider community.”
Beverley Kite, Chair, Leeds Caring Hands
Developing the digital inclusion offer
In January 2025, Leeds Caring Hands identified a need to recruit more volunteers to deliver their digital skills support. They contacted Voluntary Action Leeds who suggested they advertise for volunteers via the Be Collective website. As a result, they successfully recruited several digital support volunteers including Jasmine, David, and Tony who now deliver the weekly digital drop-ins.
“I saw the volunteering opportunity and the number of awards the charity had got and all the amazing work they were doing, and I wanted to be part of it. It’s such a great feeling to be able to help and support people, it makes me proud to support such a lovely charity with such lovely people”.
Tony, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
Initially the volunteers designed a six-week digital skills course which covered a range of themes including basic digital skills, entertainment, WhatsApp and social media, using apps, how to use a tablet and phone, support with using the NHS app and Patchs.
After the first session it was apparent many people were attending to receive digital support for a wide range of needs, the majority needing support with Patchs and managing their appointments.
“Some people have been anxious with new digital tools launching in the practice, such as Patchs, that they have no option but to learn how to use. This means that they have come to the sessions with a different attitude than they would have if they were wanting to learn how to use digital for fun. The volunteers take a holistic approach in supporting people. They give them the time and space to do this at their own pace, and show them more things they can do online that they are interested in, which has been great.”
Beverley Kite, Chair, Leeds Caring Hands
Taking a person-centred approach
The volunteers decided to adapt the six-week course to be more informal and offer it as a weekly digital drop-in. People could bring their own devices, or use the tablets on site, and get help with the things they wanted to learn.
“We find taking a casual approach is working well, trying new things without it being formal, being flexible and adapting to need. The drop-ins are now led by need rather than a fixed series of sessions.”
David, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
Each session includes refreshments and many of the attendees are referred from the practice. People have the option to attend more than once to develop their digital skills and confidence. Many are now regular attendees and look forward to learning something new each time. With Patchs support, volunteers have found people feel more reassured and confident after going through it multiple times and they have built trusted relationships.
“Many people need support with how to make an appointment and make repeat prescriptions with Patchs. I go through this with them, show them, and then ask them to repeat the exercises so I know they can do it without my help. Then they feel confident to do it at home outside of the sessions. It’s nice to see people return each week to keep developing their skills and see their confidence grow.”
Tony, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
“I couldn’t log into Patchs before, but with David’s help it makes so much more sense, and me and my husband feel so much more confident in using Patchs.”
Service User, Leeds Caring Hands
Many of the attendees bring their own devices and the volunteers support people with using their own phones, how to do internet searches, how to download apps on to their devices and more. There are three or four volunteers at each session to offer one-to-one support because each person who attends has different needs. This means the volunteers can take a person-centred approach and tailor their support depending on the skills and needs of the person.
“We ask people what they’re interested in, and what matters to them, so we can let them know how digital can benefit them. Chatting about apps that link to their interests and that can complement their life.”
Tony, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
The volunteers at Leeds Caring Hands have adapted their sessions to offer a wide range of support depending on the needs of the patients. This has included showing people how to connect to the free wifi in the practice and elsewhere to save on mobile data costs, and helping people to use FaceTime and social media to stay in touch with friends and family.
The tablets on site give people the opportunity to take their first steps with digital, develop their existing digital skills, and understand what more they could do online.
“When people who don’t have a device come to the sessions, we use the tablets to give them a light introduction to digital. This is fun and informal and is led by what they’re interested in.”
David, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
“Many of our attendees are older and many have English as a second language. I speak slowly and take my time showing them how to navigate and use the devices. Sometimes I show them practical exercises rather than talking it through, which works better for some people. We get asked for all kinds of digital support, and we’re able to adapt and support people with whatever they need.”
Tony, Digital Support Volunteer, Leeds Caring Hands
One attendee had received a letter telling him that he needed to login to his home insurance to renew his account or it would be cancelled. He was very anxious and was unsure how to do this. He came to the digital drop-in, and the volunteers helped him. He was able to create an account, log in and renew his insurance, as well as finding the telephone number for the company via an internet search to be able to ring them in future. He was reassured by the volunteers that the group would be there for him if he needed to go over any of it again.
“The volunteers bring their individual personalities, all of them have empathy for other people. They are nice people who don’t put any pressure on the people they are helping. They take their time. If people want to have a one-to-one chat they can do, or they can get help in a group setting, and they can come back as many times as they need until they feel confident.
People have come into the sessions not always wanting to use the digital health tools. But when they know how to use them, they feel pleased with themselves, they feel like they’ve achieved something. If they go away feeling better, happier, and more confident then we have succeeded.”
Beverley Kite, Chair, Leeds Caring Hands
Partnership working
The digital inclusion support offered by Leeds Caring Hands follows the 100% Digital Leeds community based approach to digital inclusion. Providing support at a place people feel safe, to do the things that are important to them, at the right pace for them. Working in partnership with the practice and the local community, Leeds Caring Hands has increased awareness of the sessions and the digital offer for patients.
After hearing from patients that more support was needed around frauds and scams, and that many were worried about going online because of this, Leeds Caring Hands partnered with Virgin Money. Virgin Money offered to deliver digital skills sessions to help people understand more about the risks involved in being online and how to spot potential scams and avoid them. This was well received, and the group are planning future sessions around Online Banking and Online Shopping. They’ve also been able to signpost patients to Virgin Money for free data SIMs via the National Databank, and use the 100% Digital Leeds Community Support Directory to signpost people to further digital inclusion support across the city depending on their needs.
Digital inclusion research
Leeds Caring Hands is currently involved in The Include Study, a research project being delivered by The University of Leeds, Age UK Leeds, and Bradford Teaching Hospitals.
The study is examining:
- How many older people go online
- Who is more likely to use digital
- What would help people who find it difficult or don’t use digital
The aims and objectives of the study are to:
- Develop an inclusive way of identifying older people who are digitally excluded
- Explore older people’s views of the internet and what might help them get online
- Adapt available digital support so it addresses a wide range of needs
- Test this new approach with a group of older people
It is hoped that the results of the research will help Leeds Caring Hands to reach more older people, and enable them to continue to adapt and develop their offer to meet the needs of their community.
Next steps
The group at Leeds Caring Hands are keen to develop the six-week programme of digital skills sessions with support from 100% Digital Leeds. They want to look at how basic digital skills can be positioned as an enabler for an individual’s interests and priorities, such as travel, saving money, or staying connected to friends and family. Having identified the key things that people need most support with, they will deliver these as themed sessions in a group setting to encourage peer support and social connections.
The group has expanded their digital drop-ins to more than once a week, and they will continue to look at ways to expand their digital volunteer team. 100% Digital Leeds is working with Leeds Caring Hands to share their approach to digital inclusion across their Primary Care Network and with other PPG Groups across the city.
“It’s so uplifting to see people walk out with a smile on their face.”
Beverley Kite, Chair, Leeds Caring Hands