Digital care access depends on a usable device, an affordable connection and the confidence to complete a task. The service on the other side of the screen also has to answer a useful question. Two Welsh community accounts illustrate these different parts of participation: Foothold Cymru describes practical help getting online, while Credu describes designing digital support around carers’ local needs. Digital Lifelines account, Credu case study
For health and community-care teams, the distinction helps explain why making a service available online and enabling people to use it are different delivery tasks. These accounts describe local approaches; they do not measure a resulting improvement in health.
A connection and a completed task need different support
Foothold Cymru’s Digital Lifelines for Llanelli account describes free, informal sessions in local venues, with support available in Welsh or English. People can bring their own phone, tablet or computer and learn at their own pace. Tasks include using useful apps, including the NHS Wales App, making video calls and completing online forms. What the project describes
The account also identifies the cost of devices, mobile data and broadband as barriers. It describes help with refurbished devices where available and information about more affordable connections, with conditions attached to particular offers. Those details concern an individual local project; they are not a promise that every reader qualifies for a device or data package.
A person may therefore need help at more than one point: obtaining a connection, learning how their own device works and completing the particular service task. A download count would leave most of that experience unexamined.
Carers also need information that fits their lives
Credu’s case study starts inside the organization, with changes to HR, document management and financial reporting. Its stated aim is to let staff spend more time supporting carers. The CEO describes an ambition for 80% of staff time to go to carer support and 20% to administration; the account does not report that ratio as an achieved result. Organizational foundations
The account says surveyed carers wanted trusted information outside office hours. It supplies no survey denominator or detailed methods, so that finding describes reported feedback rather than the prevalence of a preference across all carers.
Credu is exploring AI-supported information alongside existing human support. Local services, rural travel and the realities of carers’ lives shape that work. The account’s references to round-the-clock information are prospective possibilities, rather than confirmation that a completed 24-hour service is available. Listening to carers and the proposed offer
Digital participation has several parts
The Welsh Government’s Minimum Digital Living Standard overview treats devices and connectivity alongside functional and critical skills. Its examples include changing settings, using apps and forms, managing data, recognizing scams and judging what information to share. This household framework provides useful context for care access, without establishing the effectiveness of either local project. Welsh policy overview
The sources suggest three complementary questions for understanding a digital-care offer:
| Part of access | Practical question | Evidence to keep separate |
|---|---|---|
| Device and connection | Can someone reach the service on a suitable device with enough data? | An offer of help differs from confirmed eligibility or sustained access |
| Skills and confidence | Can they complete the task and recognize how to get help? | Attending a session differs from independently completing the care task |
| Useful service | Does the information match local pathways and the person’s circumstances? | A planned feature differs from an operating service or an evaluated benefit |
This is an editorial synthesis of the different tasks, rather than a validated scoring system or a complete assessment standard. It connects the local examples with the wider framework while preserving their different evidence roles.
Accessible design and practical assistance belong together
England’s NHS digital service manual separately asks teams to include people who lack internet access, digital skills or confidence. It calls for assisted digital support where gaps remain, design for low digital and health literacy, and involvement of users and communities. That is implementation guidance with its own jurisdiction; it does not certify the Welsh programmes. NHS service standard, point 5
The next task after getting into a service may be understanding what it shows. Our NHS Wales App test-results guide addresses that separate question: seeing a result, interpreting a clinical comment and knowing which care team can explain it.
The Welsh accounts make the work around digital access visible. Evidence about its impact would need to follow people through the service task and onward support, including those who still cannot participate. The cases describe ways of providing help; they leave those longer-term outcomes open.