The award recognises the Trust’s work to tackle digital poverty and reach the digitally excluded through the provision of digital technology in service user’s homes, and follows previous national recognition for the project, which also won the NHS Parliamentary Awards Future NHS category.
The enabling technology allows individuals to undertake video consultations and engage socially with family and friends; a KOMP is a screen with a single button that requires a low level of digital skill to operate, ideal for people who have not previously used any video calling technology. Also used was Kraydel Konnect which requires a slightly higher level of digital skill.
The project is a great example of a clinically led, digitally enabled piece of work. It was delivered across a number of MPFT services, including its Staying Well service and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service, supported by MPFT’s Digital Skills and Business Change team. Clinical staff have developed their own knowledge and skills in digital technology to enable those who use their services to have the choice of accessing digital technology as part of their care.
Joe Wickens, Digital Service Development Manager at MPFT said: “We are extremely proud of all the staff involved in this award win and all of those, across the organisation, working to continually find new ways to develop our services to ensure that they are inclusive and do not leave anyone behind.”
The core focus of this work is to tackle digital poverty, but it has delivered many other benefits, including reducing travel, which supports the Trust’s sustainability ambitions, reducing social isolation and supporting other themes within MPFT’s Digital Strategy, such as choice and access, digital inclusion and equalities, and digital skills and confidence.
MPFT is committed to being a key driver in tackling digital poverty locally, regionally and nationally, working in partnership with other NHS organisations, councils, third sector organisations and technology companies such as Curry’s. Martyn Perry, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer / Director of Digital Transformation, also sits on the community board of the Digital Poverty Alliance to support the national direction in tackling digital poverty.