To expect the elderly and other vulnerable people to be able to navigate online NHS app?

[Allonthesametrain]

Well just this. Fortunately as family we are able to help and it's heartbreaking when your elderly parents get a message and don't know to respond because it takes you to an app.

The letter for an appt can come after the online confirmation so that guarantee isn't there. For our older generation, the worry of making sure on time, leaving extra early, getting whatever it takes to get there.

As I said, fortunately as family we are there to help but it makes me worry about those who don't have support. I know SS will most likely be involved but how much due to their caseload, no matter how much they care and are amazing.

Fully aware of aĺl issues of funding but there really needs to be a better way than to send a text to an 87 year old to then go to an app which becomes overwhelming.

My nan is one such person with a very basic mobile, I don't think she's ever had internet nor a computer and has no interest in any of it. She's in her 90's now and wouldn't have a clue about any of this digital stuff!

The thing is though, is that our elderly population is increasing year on year and so although I understand it may be.more efficient in both time and money, it does seem a little short sighted when I know there are many people who don't want to or just can't manage to adapt to such changes.

It's good to hear that there are initiatives in place to try and bring people into the 21st century with technology who want to/are able to do so. Tech and the digital world isn't going to go away any time soon and I think we do need to try and embrace that to a degree, if we can (says someone who only just got a smartphone like 8 years ago 😂).

My late DM didn't have a smart phone or a computer, my late DF did have a smartphone but I doubt he would have coped with an app, not least because he had bad arthritis in his fingers. I can think of lots of elderly people who couldn't deal with this.

Surely you can understand that not everyone has family either - I don't.

My parents were both impressively competent computer & mobile phone users into their eighties. Then they both had strokes.

Both recovered well. But they lost all 'recently acquired' skills and the ability to learn afresh. Strokes are brain damage, an obvious fact which seems to escape most when complaining about older people failing to keep up.

As for me, I haven't had a stroke yet but am developing some arthritis in my fingers - also very common. I fucking hate using phone apps now, it's just difficult to tap the right places with the right pressure. Plus, I've got no clue why humanity seems to have decided we work best on tiny screens! It's ridiculous.

No, I am not on my phone right now. I'm on a PC, with a screen that fills most of my field of vision and a keyboard with finger-sized keys. The bastard NHS app, like so many others, won't run on a PC.

Nobody in Government advocating for the needs of the elderly - they’re being written off - it makes my blood truly boil .

I’m more worried about online booking. You get paper letters for appointments too on a timely fashion. Our GP can close very early for bookings now sometimes as early as 9 and you can only book online. My elderly mum has really needed to see a doctor but just gives up. It’s a massive issue for vulnerable people like those with autism too. I’ve had the same issue with my adult dc. My dd thought they were no longer taking bookings at all due to the message saying we are currently not taking bookings being on the site every time she went on to book. Neither the elderly nor those with autism are likely to question or argue and it’s hugely stressful for carers. It’s hard enough getting them to book!

My parents are in their 90s, everyone has my mobile number and I do all the apps for them on my phone. They could have learned more at the time mobiles and smart phones came out, but frankly they didn't expect to live this long, and also didn't expect all the channels they were used to to disappear.

It has made me determined to try to keep up tech wise for as long as I possibly can.

However at some point eyesight and memory starts failing as does ability to learn new things. Organisations need to have alternative methods available (and also not make life so difficult when someone wants to eg organise a boiler service on behalf of their parent.)

@Besidemyselfwithworry Doris with her brick phone switched off in drawer for emergency is exactly my mum.
My mum just says she doesn’t have a mobile as if her number got entered somewhere they would try and use it to no success.
Shes currently awaiting an appointment was supposed to be 12-16 weeks now 18. She thinks she’s being sent a letter. She keeps calling the number for the clinic and hospital reception and leaving a voicemail and no one calls her back. I’ve told her to make an apt again with her Gp.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve tried to contact her, no mobile or email on file and computer has put her down as no show and discharged her.

But if their kids live 2.5 and 6 hours away that doesn't help. I have my dad's NHS app on my phone so I managed to see he'd had bloods done that he didn't tell me about and as a GP was able to see the results and agree with them even though doing a PSA in a 93 year old who has no new urinary problems is crazy. But that's another story.

....am developing some arthritis in my fingers - also very common. I fucking hate using phone apps now, it's just difficult to tap the right places with the right pressure.

it's also recognised that people's skin texture changes as they get older and older people's fingertips are less able to operate touchscreens because of this. There's actual research about it, so you'd think the nhs would be aware.

The Welsh app we get repeat prescriptions and appointments. That's it. No test results, letters from consultants. It's very scant.

PLEASE ALL KNOW I DIDN'T REALISE IT TO SOUND LIKE THIS BUT THE ACTUAL OPPOSITE!

IM MY HEAD I WAS ASKING AIBU THAT THE ELDERLY AND VULNERABLE SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO NAVIGATE ONLINE.

THAT'S THE PROBLEM, IF THEY DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO HELP THEY WILL BE MISSING SO MANY VITAL THINGS. IT'S UNFAIR AND CAUSES STRESS. XX

Exactly! Also it's scary because the fear of deleting or doing something wrong. Xx

Absolutely 💯! The stress of having so many minutes to put in codes is awful.

I was helping the friend i mentioned upthread fill in a medical form online. It timed out before we could finish and went back to the beginning.

I am 66. I have mobility issues, but my brain is fully functioning. My hubby (used to work in IT) can 'work' the on line only appointment system at his surgery but if I need to make an appointment (different surgery) I have no idea how to do it! And he can't figure out the system either. I just pray that I don't need help and that I just drop down dead with no need for 'treatment'. I have been totally dis-engaged and ignored by NHS. Thankfully don't need help currently.

And the letter arrived today, over 2 weeks since it was posted and 2 days before the appointment, and a day after the text reminding him about the appointment! If only they’d text or emailed him the appointment in the first place!
The system is broken. I worked in the NHS for 40 years so I’m not bashing the NHS

I share your concerns.

As an older person I used to be so grateful to be able to phone the surgery for an appointment, or at least be taken to attend a walk in clinic when very unwell. However, everything now has to be done on line.

Fine, absolutely no problem with this and the system, though a bit tedious worked well, UNTIL I became really unwell. Then the process became challenging. Trying to fill the form in with a raging temperature and breathing difficulties makes you feel like you just can’t be bothered with it all. In that state you mistakenly believe that you might as well just leave it because you’re unable to think clearly. (Turned out to be pneumonia but of course I had no idea).

I was lucky, I was able to contact someone who could help me fill in the form and I was seen. My concern is that lives will be lost because of a system that relies so heavily on people’s ability to handle technology.

And how much credit do these apps use up on PAYG phones?!

But paper letters are notoriously unreliable, often arriving after the appointment - in my case. I have lots of medical appointments where the appointment is in two days’ time, for example.

You have to be well to access the NHS these days Well enough to spend time online filling things in..........well enough to sit on a plastic chair for hours

The app is a nightmare. I work in the nhs and am quite good at tech. I keep notifications that I have a message in the app but when I try to open it it won’t let me. Have missed notifications this way. My DP has also missed appointments because he gets so many notifications and whataapps etc that loads go unread. He never misses an appointment sent by post
I was having so many people missing appointments in my clinic that I started ringing them myself in advance - with much improved attendance.
The amount of money invested in the tech combined with the cost of missed appointments can’t be worth the cost of a letter and postage. Makes no sense to me

I deregistered our old person from the app. She could no longer cope with it, although it worked for her initially and answered her questions. Eventually she could not remember passwords or to sign in for messages.

This is such a common scenario.
I’d suggest getting a cheap smart phone and downloading the nhs app to it for your Mum and controlling it yourself so you can see tests/scans/results/ letters/ appointments/ prescriptions/ waiting lists if she’s waiting for things etc…
waiting past 18 weeks for a first appointment is very common tho the wait for ENT, Neurology, Maxillofacial, Vascular in our trust is a year even for urgent and unless people are out thru on the rapid access 2ww pathways that’s sadly how it is, it’s terrible for patients and it’s upsetting for nhs staff to have to relay this to people too.

Sorting out my own NHS admin -and I’m not elderly - is really time consuming.
I wouldn’t mind so much if there was ONE system, but different hospital trusts seem to also have their own “portals” and it’s never clear whether it’s essential to sort.
I got a breathless message telling me I had important information from a particular hospital group - set myself up as a user on THEIR system and there’s no communication there for me whatsoever. So is it missing or is it coming later or what?

And why on earth when GP apps were brought in a few years back were all those different suppliers around? I ended up with something called MyGP and it sort of worked. Until it locked me out a few months ago. I now use the NHS app (which also sort of works) but why on earth weren’t we all told to do that in the first place.

Mind you, I do have a physical letter about an hospital appointment date which I simply can’t make. I’ve tried ringing the advised telephone number on the letter and stayed on hold for long periods of time for two days now, and no one answers.
Tried the switchboard, who said there was nothing they could do but try putting me through the appointments department themselves; again, no-one picked up for 30 minutes (and I’m working full time so not easy to be fitting these calls in).
So there’s an appointment I’m going to be marked as did not attend for, and that they could be offering to someone else, that I can’t let them know about.

Unfortunately consent to receive texts, booking links and online downloads is inferred, unless explicitly stated that they do not consent

They are more than welcome to contact the local hospitals and their GPs to explicitly state that they will only accept phone calls and 'hard' correspondence

It is a then legal requirement to retain this information and adhere to the instructions