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118 Health Inequalities: How is Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children continuing to reduce the digital health divide?

bmjpo · 2026-01-26 · canonical JSON source

4 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Background The Digital Health Inequalities working group, part of the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Health Inequalities programme, has continued to make progress in tackling digital exclusion since it was set up in 2023. The group have been able to provide a series of interventions for addressing digital poverty and gaps in digital literacy and have plans for ensuring this can be sustainable.Methods Table 1 describes our methodology utilised to continue tackling digital exclusion.Results Completion of the Digital Access Tracker (DAT) has continued to increase over the past year ( figure 2), particularly since the inclusion within check-in kiosks in outpatient areas (April 2025). 9848 completed trackers (in 2024 = 2064) have enabled identification of potentially digitally excluded families: those with no internet access (n=247) or smart device at home (n=391), with 151 families not having access to either. Through continued collaboration with Good Things Foundation charity, and by securing funding via GOSH Charity’s Everyday Impact Fund, we offer:Free mobile data, minutes and texts, and smart devices to parents/carers in need, with support to sign–up to MyGOSH patient portal.Free digital literacy upskilling via ‘Learn My Way’ bite–sized online learning.Data gifting and digital upskilling to staff members in need.Future Plans To embed the digital inclusion initiative into business-as-usual by:Utilising Epic electronic patient records to prompt DAT completion and intervention, as indicated.Embedding into ward accreditation as part of the health inequalities self–assessment from 2026.Streamlining staff access to devices/data for gifting to families in need.Conclusion By devising sustainable processes, we continue to raise awareness of the need to identify and address digital exclusion within our patient population and are able to maintain the ability to offer appropriate intervention, when required.Acknowledgements for Funding or Support The authors would like to thank Duncan Shepherd for his contributions to this work in terms of devising the Digital Access Tracker Statistical Process Control chart and a device gifting log for use within this initiative. The authors would also like to thank Stephen Twum for his contributions to embedding the Digital Access Tracker questions within the self-check-in kiosks within the outpatient departments.Abstract 118 Table 1Digital inclusion initiative methodologyAbstract 118 Figure 1Digital access tracker questions within check-in kioskAbstract 118 Figure 2Digital access tracker records