Digital Inclusion Scheme — Tablet Loans & Skills Support for Mental Health Service Users (Camden & Islington NHS)

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust (C&I NHS FT), which provides community mental health services across two London boroughs, launched its Digital Inclusion Scheme in October 2021 following a successful pilot with its Traumatic Stress Clinic. The scheme addresses digital exclusion among people using its mental health services by combining device loans, connectivity and personalised digital skills coaching, delivered in partnership with the UK digital-inclusion charity AbilityNet and a dedicated 0.4 FTE Digital Inclusion Officer.

Between October 2021 and June 2022, the scheme received 106 referrals; 83 service users (78%) completed a baseline digital-skills assessment. It loaned 185 Samsung Galaxy tablets (25 with built-in 4G), 100 Vodafone SIM cards with 20GB of free data for six months, and 30 Jangala mobile routers, alongside protective cases and Bluetooth keyboards. At baseline, 53% of referred service users rated their own digital skills as poor and 34% had never accessed the internet.

An independent mixed-methods evaluation, published in JMIR Mental Health, combined the baseline data with semi-structured interviews of 12 service users. Among those interviewed, 83% reported the scheme had a positive impact on their mental wellbeing — citing improved mood, confidence and reduced isolation — and 33% said it helped them access C&I's own clinical services online. A minority (25%) also described potential downsides, such as excessive device use or reduced in-person contact.

The evaluators flagged real limitations: the interview sample was a small, convenience-based group of relatively engaged users, so the findings likely overstate benefits for the full referral population; recruitment itself relied partly on web-based opt-in, which risked excluding the most digitally isolated; and the loan-based model is time-limited, so gains may not persist once devices are returned. The single part-time Digital Inclusion Officer post was also identified as a bottleneck that delayed support during staff absence.

Read the full analysis: https://mental.jmir.org/2024/1/e51315