Digital apps and reducing ethnic health inequalities (January 2023)

Summary

TPXimpact was commissioned by the NHS Race & Health Observatory to deliver  research that can shape future digital health recommendations to reduce ethnic inequality in the usage of healthcare apps such as the NHS App, NHSBT Give Blood app, and other current and future healthcare apps. As health inequalities are shaped  by wider determinants of health, addressing them requires a response beyond digital and even beyond the NHS. This report focuses on the role digital can play in understanding and addressing ethnic health inequalities.

Content

Key recommendations for ‘Design’, ‘Data’ and ‘Ways of Working’ include:

• Design of new data strategies must engage with the public and with members of Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, to co-design data policies based around community needs.
• Digital teams to work with local NHS GP practices and commissioning groups, frontline staff, and community partners to identify new ways to serve the unique and unmet needs of ethnic minority communities.
• With better linked data, NHSE, UKHSA, ICSs, researchers and digital teams should use insight to design by targeted research and design efforts in areas where ethnic health disparities need priority attention.
• National healthcare organisations to pilot, implement and update guidelines and processes on ethnicity data coding in the NHS.
• NHS England and NHS Blood and Transplant should partner with the NHS Race and Health Observatory to co-design data privacy guidelines with people of Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, ensuring clarity and building trust in data collection and use.