Designing inclusive and trusted digital health services with people and communities 

The King’s Fund report explores how to design inclusive digital health services that meet the needs of diverse communities.  

Key insights: 

• Meaningful engagement with people and communities is critical to developing digital services that truly meet user needs. 

• Power imbalances must be addressed, ensuring that those most affected by digital exclusion have a voice in decision-making. 

• Support for staff is necessary to equip healthcare professionals with the skills and confidence to engage communities in service design. 

• System constraints (such as limited resources and rigid policies) can hinder inclusive digital transformation and must be tackled. 

For digital health services to work for everyone, organisations should move beyond one-off consultations and adopt long-term, co-designed approaches that focus on patient and community voices.  

The report also highlights how health inequalities can be worsened if digital services are not designed inclusively. Barriers such as low digital literacy, lack of internet access, and mistrust in technology must be proactively addressed.