What we learned in the Mobilise: LIVE on growing confidence in carers using IT
Alex Yoxall, Digital Communities Manager at Wigan Council, recently held a Mobilise: LIVE session with Mobilise carers to show us that gaining confidence in using technology grows from starting with one small task, receiving a bit of patient help and having the freedom to go at our own pace.
The session followed our Mobilise Moment on technology, which had over 900 responses, with about 40% of carers telling us they don't feel confident using IT. We also held a live poll during the session and, while nobody chose "not confident at all", common worries which were unearthed were "getting something wrong" and "scams".
Alex explained that digital confidence as a spectrum, and where we sit on it shifts with whatever is going on in our lives. Nobody is expected to know everything, so the useful question is where to start. The session covered a simple three-step approach, a live scam-spotting exercise, where to find free local and online support, and answers to carers' questions about uploading documents, the NHS app, passwords and joining online meetings.
The point Alex most wanted us to take away is that digital should always be an option and never the only option. If a service is easy enough, we will choose it, and if it is not, there should be a phone or face-to-face route as well. Carers in the chat said much the same thing:
"Not online and digital-only, that just doesn't work, or AI only, a human option too please."
Where to start?
Alex's advice is to begin with one task, get some help with it and repeat it until it feels familiar. The task can be small, even something that saves 30 seconds, and Alex was clear that there is no shame in asking for help.
Choose one task. Pick something that would make caring a little easier, such as ordering a repeat prescription or joining a video call.
Get a little support. Ask someone to show us, follow a simple guide or go to a local session. Alex said the people who come along often feel embarrassed to be there, and that nobody needs to.
Practise and build. Repeat the task until it feels familiar, then look at the next one.
Alex gave us these examples of tasks and habits that can help:
The NHS app. Alex had it on a phone for years and barely used it, out of habit. After looking at its features, Alex found a repeat prescription could be ordered without a trip to the pharmacy, and an online form could replace queuing on the phone at 8am.
Video calls and webinars. Joining online events keeps us in touch with other people when caring means we cannot get to things in person.
Written steps. Plain English guides, visual steps, large print, short videos and crib sheets are all fair game. Alex regularly sees people apologise for writing numbered steps on paper, and encourages them to keep doing it.
Finding services online. Alex encouraged us to use digital tools to find health, benefits, council and carers services, and to help anyone in our caring circle who is not using them to get started.
Testing a meeting link early. Joining a Teams, Zoom or Google Meet link an hour or a day ahead shows whether the camera and sound work, before there is any pressure.
A password manager. Letting a personal device remember our passwords means fewer resets (more in the questions section below).
We must also remember that this has to be our choice. We should not feel pushed or coaxed into anything before we feel ready, because we will get the most out of it at our own speed.
Spotting a scam
Alex's rule for anything that looks suspicious is pause, check and protect. Alex also pointed out that we can practise safety as much as we like but can never remove the risk completely, in the same way we learn road safety and still go out and use our streets.
The group worked through an example text that read "Pharmacy update. Your dad's prescription is on hold, pay £1.49 today to avoid a delay", followed by a link. It was a scam, and carers in the chat spotted the warning signs straight away:
It asked for a payment out of the blue, and £1.49 is an odd amount. Alex explained that a small sum feels harmless, so more people pay without thinking.
It didn't name the pharmacy, or give an address.
The link looked "dodgy".
It was probably sent by a computer to hundreds or thousands of people at once, in the hope that one of them is busy and expecting a pharmacy message.
Scam messages often add time pressure to make us rush.
Carers in the chat spotted these signs within seconds, and had their own ways of checking.
"If I got this text I would ring the pharmacy first."
"Pharmacy scam, cost no correlation to prescription charges. Would have pharmacy name, would say prescription is ready for collection."
Another added a suggestion that Alex did not cover. After being scammed, or nearly scammed, we can register with CIFAS for protection against future scams.
Alex gave us three steps to follow when something does not feel right:
Pause. Stop before we click, reply or pay anything, and ask whether we were expecting this.
Check. Use a separate, trusted route, such as our own pharmacy's website or phone number, and leave the link alone.
Protect. If it turns out to be fake, report it and block it, and let the organisation being copied know. Most of us can spot a scam, and Alex said not knowing how to report one is what lets it keep going.
Where to find support
Alex's message was that support should not depend on postcodes, and that some version of it exists wherever we live. These are the places Alex pointed us to:
Where | What it offers |
Free, bite-sized online learning for essential digital skills and beyond, from managing health online to pensions, jobs and AI. We sign up with an email address and can start straight away. | |
The national digital inclusion charity. Its website has a live map of local digital inclusion hubs, showing whether each one runs drop-ins or gives out data SIM cards. | |
Most councils have some form of digital inclusion support, delivered differently in each area. Alex suggested asking specifically for digital inclusion, digital skills or assisted digital support. | |
Libraries often host digital support, and Alex's advice was to ask the staff what is on. | |
Free guides and learning to use at our own pace. | |
Carer-specific resources online. | |
Free tech support for people who are older or living with a disability. |
As an example of what to look for, Wigan offers one-to-one help from volunteer digital champions (Techmates), friendly drop-ins with tea and biscuits (Technique Tea Parties), free devices and SIM cards through a referral scheme (Access for All), and devices, Wi-Fi and assisted support in libraries and family hubs.
Questions from the session
Uploading photos and documents
"I don't understand when asked to upload/ download e.g. documents/ photos."
Alex said we should never feel obliged to upload something we are not comfortable sharing, and that there should always be an offline route. That covers a GP asking for a photo of a part of the body to help with triage, and it covers council forms such as a Blue Badge application. Alex added that for health services this is a legal requirement, so a GP who says it has to be online is wrong, and that digital by default does not mean digital only.
When we do want to try it, "upload" or "scan" usually just means using the phone's camera to take a picture of the document. A form will normally have an upload button or a take photo or scan button. The first opens the files or gallery on the device so we can pick a picture we have already taken, and the second opens the camera. If it is new to us, it helps to practise with someone who can sit down with us.
The NHS app for the person we care for
"I am wondering if I can have the NHS app for both myself AND my son?”
To get access for the person we care for, Alex's first step is to speak to that person's GP surgery, because the surgery is the one that sets up the permissions. Each surgery has its own process, and in many Wigan surgeries it starts with a paper form from reception. Being at a different surgery from the person we care for should not stop us, but the surgery will tell us what its process is.
The app is not the same everywhere yet. Alex explained that GP online services, with names such as Patchs and Ask My GP, are increasingly being connected to the NHS app, so that the app becomes the front door whichever system sits behind it. Some surgeries have not caught up, and Alex said it is a postcode lottery for now, and being rolled out across England, so availability depends on your GP practice.
A form completed online goes onto the same triage list as phone calls, so it is one route among several rather than a different queue. Alex's advice was not to get hung up on the names of the services, and to focus on which way of getting help works for us.
Digital help at the GP surgery
"I am just not understanding it, so confusing. The surgery always say on the phone ‘use the Patchs, it's easier than ringing’."
Alex said every GP surgery should have a digital champion, someone who helps with basic digital skills, though in reality not all of them do. If a surgery says "just go online", we can ask who their digital person is. A local council's digital inclusion team is the next place to try, and in Greater Manchester the NHS also has digital facilitators who run NHS app drop-ins and coffee mornings in each area.
"When I had problems with the NHS App I was told the staff at the surgery could not help me and did not know who at the NHS App could."
Alex also pointed out that "it's easier online" only holds once we know how to do it. If we would rather explain a complicated situation to a person, especially when it is about someone we care for, that is a fair choice. Getting some help to try the online form first lets us decide for ourselves which is easier.
Passwords
On a personal device that only we use and that has its own passcode, Alex described a password manager as one of the most secure ways to store passwords, because the passwords are encrypted. The pop-up that asks "do you want to save this password?" when we sign in to a website is a basic password manager. Alex said to avoid them on shared or public computers. A notebook that we keep somewhere safe is not the worst option either, if that is what helps us remember.
"Good to know password manager is secure, I was wary."
Joining Teams, Zoom or Google Meet
We do not need to download the app to join an online meeting. The invitation will have a link to join through the app, and usually a written link underneath to join in the browser, which works without a profile as long as we have Wi-Fi or data. Alex joins meetings through the browser and suggests trying a new link an hour or a day beforehand. We usually land in a waiting room, where we can check that our camera and sound are working.
Where do we go from here...?
Whatever our starting point with technology, the advice from Alex kept coming back to the same few things. We should start with one small task that would make caring a little easier, ask for help without apologising for it, and choose the route that suits us, whether that’s an app, a phone call or a conversation in person.
Plenty of us are already doing this for each other, from warning one another about fake pharmacy texts to sharing which surgeries run a monthly support session, and we all end up as beginners with something new now and then. If this has left us feeling inspired to try more IT solutions in our caring role, here are some more Mobilise guides about using technology as an unpaid carer which might be of interest.
