The Marmot Review 10 Years On (2020) revealed that health inequalities across the UK are widening and life expectancy is stalling. Marmot 2020 highlights the wider social and economic determinants that drive health inequalities - such as poverty and insecure housing. Almost all of these wider determinants are exacerbated by digital exclusion in today’s world. 

Who you are and where you live can affect how you engage with health care systems and services. Impacts on health outcomes are even more acute where people face multiple barriers and have complex support needs - such as people with experience of homelessness. Barriers to accessing health care services and information are amplified by digital exclusion - especially as health services become digitally enabled (as the Coronavirus pandemic shows). 

Working with people to discover what matters most to them, some of our Widening Digital Participation pathfinder projects have found ways to mitigate some of the barriers to accessing health and care services, developing alternative models of health engagement.

5,600

People reached through local communication and engagement

155

Older people received in-depth support with digital inclusion for health

62%

Of people who completed Learn My Way modules feel more informed about their health

Guides