To be digitally included, and specifically to be able take advantage of digital health services requires:
- access to secure, reliable, affordable internet.
- access to a suitable device to access digital services.
- the digital skills and / or confidence to navigate the online environment safely and knowledgeably.
- the motivation to use digital services.
- For digital health services, people also need the health literacy skills to access, assess and use health information.
Those facing digital exclusion tend to be from more deprived communities, older, disabled, or vulnerable communities such as asylum seekers and traveller communities. For example, data shows that:
- the 2.1 million people who are offline, are older, with a health condition and have no formal qualifications.
- the 5.2 million (10%) who have low digital skills, 13 million (25%) who have very low digital skills are older and from more socioeconomically deprived communities.
- 60+ adults are almost twice as likely as those aged between 50-59 to lack confidence in their ability to use the Internet
The cost-of-living crises further compounding digital exclusion, in 2022 1 m cancelled their broadband internet.
The people facing digital exclusion, are the same communities who have high use of emergency services and poor health outcomes:
- 2 million unplanned admissions a year for people over 65, accounting for 68 per cent of hospital emergency bed days
- People living in deprived areas are more likely to develop multiple long-term conditions on average 13 years earlier than people living in more affluent areas
Digital exclusion is now considered a social determinant of health, and overlaps with other determinants of health, including health literacy.