Digital NHS, perspectives from a sight impaired person- Free article.
According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People. “Every day 250 people start to lose their sight in the UK. As of 2015, more than two million people in the UK are living with sight loss that is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives, such as not being able to drive.” Plus “As of 2014, there are around 350,000 people registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. This is approximately 290,000 in England; 16,500 in Wales; around 8000 in Northern Ireland and 34,000 in Scotland (2010 figures). “
This impact also affects the individuals ability to access vital day to day health service.
We are witnessing a shift in how public sector is providing services for the public, the shift from physical services to online, digital connected services. Here at Bitjam we have been exploring this shift and attempting to understand it from the perspective of people with visual impairments.
To explore this area, we have been working with Klaudia Suchowiak who is a blind person studying her third year at Keele University. Klaudia has dedicated her time through an internship to explore this and create a series of articles highlighting the challenges of accessing public services faced by visually impaired people.
The articles will also draw on experiences of where public services and especially digital services have got things right.
You can access the article free via the link below, all we ask is you pay back with a Tweet or LinkedIn post saying thank you
Over the next few weeks, Klaudia will be reviewing the applications and software we have designed and are currently working on, this will help us to better understand how our design principles and understanding can and will have a positive impact on end users.
We want to thank Klaudia for her amazing work with Bitjam, also Keele University for creating this opportunity plus Santander for their involvement in setting up the programme that has enabled this to happen.
The views in this article are personal to the author and reflect their experience without bias from Bitjam Limited.
Bitjam shortlisted for Medilink WM Healthcare awards
We are pleased to announce we have been shortlisted for the ‘Partnership with the NHS award’ at the Medilink Medical & Healthcare Business Awards which will be held on Thursday 7 February 2019.
Our partners for the Beable project was Combined Healthcare NHS Trust working specifically with a group of patients managing their vascular wellbeing.
This project resonates with staff at Bitjam as it involved co-ordinating and collaborating with patients and NHS staff in the design and shaping of new digital services for the Trust.
We are only too aware of the challenges in engaging in true co-production and co-creativity, especially with the public and frontline staff who invest their valuable time to be involved in new digital service design. We are thankful for the time taken by the staff and patients to help shape the Beable project through the prototyping stage.
So, whether we bring back the award to Staffordshire or not, we feel the positive recognition so far should be something our partners should be proud of!
From Bitjam, thank you.
Previous award for Beable
DID YOU KNOW: The Beable project was also highly commended for innovation by the NHS at a previous award ceremony in 2018.
Bitjam Preferred Partner in Keele Business Bridge Programme for Second Year
Bitjam is proud to announce that we have been successfully selected to be the preferred partner for the Keele Business Bridge programme for a second year running. Bitjam will be providing a range of services from consultation on telehealth plus app and software development.
What is the Business Bridge?
Keele Business Bridge provides innovation support for a priority value/sector market, which focuses on both UK and overseas healthcare and med-tech markets. Led by the University and University Hospitals North Midlands, the programme will be building on a long-term relationship, providing access to wide-ranging expertise.
Staffordshire-based businesses within the healthcare markets can access funded specialist support, particularly services in technical and scientific advice, collaborative working on R&D projects and design, testing and validation of products. Successful companies can expect to receive business support, an innovation fund of £7000 and/or collaborative R&D.
The programme forms part of the new Keele Deal initiative, a strategic partnership between local authorities, Keele, Hospital Trust, the LEP and local business. The goal is to create an economic deal that harnesses the value of Keele as a research-intensive University to create higher value jobs locally.
We continue to meet the required criteria as an innovation partner because of our considerable knowledge and expertise in designing and collaborating on relevant projects in the health and social care industry. We’re looking forward to working with local companies with innovative ideas that match our company vision of harnessing technology to provide relief to vulnerable members of society.
