ICT access under COVID-19 for people with learning disabilities [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the scope and extent of access to and exclusion from ICT resources for people with learning disabilities and their caregivers: implications for healthcare provision during COVID-19 lockdown and beyond
IRAS ID
265059
Contact name
Deborah Chinn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
South West London and St George's NHS Mental Health Trust Research and Development
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 12 days
Research summary
During the COVID-19 health crisis, NHS staff working with people with learning disabilities (LD) are relying on telephone and online communication with service users and their staff and family members. We need to know how feasible and appropriate this way of working is for a client group who experience high rates of digital exclusion and marginalisation. We will conduct a telephone survey over a four month period with a diverse group of people with LD who are currently in contact with specialist NHS Community Learning Disability Teams (CLDTs) across England, and with their families and supporters to find out i) what devices people with LD possess and use, ii) whether their caregivers use ICT as a routine aspect of their support iii) how people’s ICT use has changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis and iv) what further support service users and caregivers would like to support their ICT use for healthcare. We also want to conduct a small number of interviews with NHS ICT managers to discover how NHS Trusts are planning to involve people with LD in the roll out of their local strategies to promote use of ICT in everyday clinical practice. This is to establish what steps are being taken to make sure that this group of services users are not left behind in the realisation of the vision for digital healthcare as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The study will help us during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond to include the ICT access needs of people with learning disabilities in national and local policies and strategies, justify investment in appropriate ICT resources for NHS Trusts and service users, design training for staff and service users and make sure that the digital offer of mainstream services addresses this client group’s requirements.\n
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/NW/0321
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion