Access to Primary Care and Digital Exclusion

Healthwatch teams across the Midlands and Cheshire carried out a project to explore the experiences of people at risk of being digitally excluded and their access to primary care during the pandemic.

The teams carried out 33 semi-structured interviews over the phone, targeting those who were likely to be digitally excluded. This included older people, people with disabilities including learning disability, and people who do not speak English as a first language.

Key findings

• Patients who were only able to book via telephone and faced difficulty trying to get through to their practice to make an appointment
• Patients raised concerns over the quality of care received during phone appointments as well as the ability to communicate effectively
• There is a need for increased flexibility and choice in the type of appointment offered to patients who may be digitally excluded

A number of recommendations were made in the report.