Vulnerable people receive lessons to help them contact doctors online

NHS England has highlighted the success of its efforts to provide vulnerable people with the skills they need to seek medical help online.

Run by the Tinder Foundation for NHS England, the Widening Digital Participation pilot scheme was designed to provide the hardest-to-reach communities – including elderly and homeless people – with the skills and confidence to access online health information.

More than 300,000 people have been reached, and 180,000 have been directly trained to use digital health resources and tools in the last three years. During the first two years of the programme, 14,000 registered with a GP and looked online first before contacting the doctor.

In a survey of 1,000 participants, 83 percent said they felt more confident about using online health tools to manage their health as a result of the training. It is thought that this will help reduce the number of GP visits and lessen NHS costs, while improving access to care.

Bob Gann, NHS England's programme director for widening digital participation, said: "We are helping people manage their conditions more independently, supporting reduction of pressure on health services and optimising the use of GPs' time."