About Digi@Home

We recognise that not all residents across Gloucestershire are able to visit one of our Digi Hubs for digital support. People may be housebound for many reasons, such as physical mobility limitations, caring responsibilities, or anxiety in social situations.

We successfully applied for funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to run the Digi@Home project to provide people with digital support at home. The 5-month pilot was funded by the UK Government to develop the processes and protocols to ensure support was delivered effectively and safely to the people who needed support at home. Participants were supported in accessing digital devices and services leading to across the board reports of increases in skills, confidence, motivation, independence, social interaction and health access, as demonstrated on the chart below.

We are in the process of arranging funding to continue this important work.

Bar chart showing increases in attitudes and skills in digital access: Skills, Confidence, Motivation, Independence, Social Interaction and Health Access

Delivering support at home

A client living with Parkinson’s had a number of digital challenges, particularly considering his dexterity challenges. An initial assessment helped create a support plan over 3 visits. First visit involved organising and tidying up of the desktop, creating folders for his apps and removing anything he felt he no longer used. The second visit assessed his basic efficiency, although his Parkinson’s made using the devices slow and some mistakes were made, he was generally very competent.

The final visit involved checking security and storage on his devices. It remained important throughout to keep instructions clear and not over complicate them. After the three visits the client had achieved a stronger ability to independently manage some of his own learning and the was actively asking for ‘homework’!