
For those who are digitally and socially excluded, this is an especially worrying time.
Those who cannot get online are unable to access critical services like finding up-to-date and accurate information, accessing health advice and buying essentials.
If you are looking to deliver your services in a digital way, your service users who aren't online will also miss out on accessing your adapted service.
Learn My Way
Good Things Foundation, the UK's leading digital inclusion charity, have a fantastic online learning platform Learn My Way which may be able to help the people you support to grow their essential digital skills.
The platform includes courses on how to use computers and other digital devices and online basics and more advanced internet skills.
The two courses may be especially helpful for any service users you have who know the basics but now need to adapt to communicating and accessing health information online:
Online Centres Network
If you are part of the Online Centres Network and want to talk about how Good Things Foundation can support you, please get in touch at hello@goodthingsfoundation.org or by calling 0114 349 1666, or through their social media channels - Facebook and Twitter. You can also fill in our survey to tell them more.
All staff are now working remotely and are continuing to deliver existing services. You can still get hold of the Good Things Foundation team on the usual channels.
DevicesDotNow - for Online Centres
FutureDotNow are coordinating industry action through a new initiative, DevicesDotNow, targeting the 1.7 million households who don’t have access to the internet and are digitally excluded as we face a socially distanced world gripped by COVID-19. Supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the DevicesDotNow campaign is asking businesses to donate tablets, smartphones and laptops, as well as connectivity in the form of sims, dongles and mobile hotspots
As the government works to address the challenges of COVID-19, many elderly and vulnerable people may find themselves isolated in their homes with limited means of communicating with the outside world, or getting access to vital services such as health, food or banking.
Frontline community organisations are in desperate need of digital devices to be able to mobilise into the community. With your help, we can power them up so they can support households facing self-isolation – alleviating the strain on the NHS, while ensuring that vulnerable people aren’t cut off from their loved ones and the outside world.
Online centres can apply now.
If you are not an Online Centre you can still register interest for phase two of the programme.