Designing more inclusive digital healthcare: James Fletcher contributes to LEAP Digital Health Hub project
12 August 2026
As digital technologies become increasingly central to how we access healthcare, it is important that digital services work for everyone — including people with learning disabilities.
IDSB member James Fletcher has contributed to the LEAP Digital Health Hub project, which has explored how technology can better support healthcare access for people with learning disabilities.
The project brought together researchers, health and care organisations, technology innovators and, most importantly, people with learning disabilities to explore what helps, what creates barriers and what good digital healthcare looks like from a lived-experience perspective.
Rather than making assumptions about what people need, the project used co-production to listen to experiences and develop practical design principles for more inclusive digital health services. These include using clear, everyday language; providing Easy Read information and pictures; keeping a human option alongside digital services; making passwords and navigation straightforward; and allowing people enough time to access services.
James says; “As digital technologies become integral to how we access healthcare, it is vital that we consider people who might be excluded by the way we design services. The best way to do that is to ask them — and that’s what we did.”
The project team also included Miquel Perelló Nieto (University of Bristol), Ryan Herbert, Josephine Fliski and Katie Barber (Healthwatch Swindon and Healthwatch Wiltshire), and Zeke Steer (Milbotix), working alongside people with lived experience.
The project’s visual resources were created by Camille Aubry, capturing ideas, experiences and conversations that emerged through the co-production process.
The resulting resources provide practical guidance for anyone developing digital health technologies, reinforcing a simple but important principle: design with people, not for them.
Through projects such as this, IDSB members are helping to put people and lived experience at the heart of digital innovation, supporting the development of technology that is more inclusive, accessible and responsive to the people who use it.