The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called for the introduction of IT training for socially excluded sections of the population so that everybody has the ability to access and update their own electronic health records.
The study, ‘Modernising with Purpose: A Manifesto for Digital Britain’, advocates using the SureStart programme, the government-operated training programme for parents, so that each family can have an adult responsible for the maintenance of their records.
"In order to maintain a fair and inclusive health service, all adults must be able to take advantage of this [the National Programme for IT], which requires carefully targeted ICT training," says the report.
"This should aim not only at those who are at greatest risk of social exclusion, but at those who perform an important role of informal health care within the family."
In the Department of Health’s Choosing Health white paper, published in November last year, promised to introduce courses, aimed initially at deprived areas, on learning about electronic patient care records and how they can be effectively used as part of adult education programmes.
Will Davies, senior research fellow at IPPR and writer of the report, told E-Health Insider that it was sensible for the DH to plan such an approach. Access to educational materials was already helping to bridge the ‘digital divide’, said Davies; but the next big issue to tackle was in the health service and the NPfIT.
"One of the themes of the report is that Britain has a slightly curious approach," explained Davies. "It’s a supplier-led approach, to put all this stuff out there and see if people are using it."
Davies added that while the NPfIT was in its infancy, it was understandable that there would be low public knowledge. "A lot of people say this about e-government in general; e-government take-up in this country is still quite low, why don’t we market it better?
"Presumably I think the systems are up and running, the government will be marketing via doctors’ surgeries," he said.
More information about the report is available from the IPPR website.
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