Black Country Connected is a Programme to loan residents in the Black Country a digital device (depending on what’s available - laptops, tablet or SMART phone) with an option to receive connectivity, when available, to enable people to access information such as health, care, social, well-being sites, general information sites, educational/college sites, social media, online shopping and connect with people/organisations via email, video call and APPs.
We are also supporting citizens within the Black Country (Walsall, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Dudley) with our Digital Skills Training Programme.
These sessions are designed to help individuals enhance their digital knowledge and build confidence in using digital solutions. The training will not only assist in accessing health services but also in seeking employment, training, and education opportunities such as BSOL classes. Additionally, the training sessions aim to reduce social isolation by enabling participants to stay connected with family and friends through video calls.
Our digital training sessions align with the NHS Digital Inclusion Framework, which identifies five key areas for action to support digital inclusion. One of these areas is 'skills and capability' ensuring that everyone has the necessary skills to use digital approaches and that health services are responsive to the capabilities of all individuals.
For further details, please email emma.
It’s important that you know how to keep yourself safe online. Here are some things you can do that will help:
- Do not share your bank or debit card details unless you’ve been shown how to shop online safely.
- Do not share any personal information, like your name or address, with people you don’t know. The people you know shouldn’t need to ask you for this information.
- Do not share your passwords. Passwords are like keys to your house. If you give them to someone, they can use them to get hold of your personal information.
- If you have any doubts about something do not do it. Ask a member of the Black Country Connected team about what to do if you’re not sure.
- The messages and photos you post on social media can leave a permanent online record. So be careful about what you put online.
- You should never post messages or photos of other people without their permission.
The NSPCC offer advice to parents and carers to help keep children safe online. It covers how to have conversations with children about what is safe to do online helping adults understand the risks, including advice on parental controls, online games, video apps and sexting. You can contact the NSPCC helpline for free support and advice on 0808 800 5000. What to do if you suspect child abuse | NSPCC
Stay safe online from the National Cyber Security Alliance covers online safety basics. It includes how to respond to identity theft, online fraud and cybercrime as well as managing your privacy. In the resources section there are tips sheets and videos. National Cybersecurity Alliance
Internet Matters offers a wide range of advice and guidance for parents and carers to help keep young people safe online. They also offer a comprehensive section on parental controls on a range of devices. Online safety issues - Advice to support children | Internet Matters
Parent Zone is a hub of online safety advice for parents and families. Main library articles | Parent Zone | At the heart of digital family life
Get Safe Online The UK's leading online safety advice resource. Get Safe Online | The UK's leading Online Safety Advice Resource
Learn My Way Safety and security online topics. Topics | Learn My Way
This guide will help you set up your new Geobook laptop.
If you’ve never used a Geobook Tablet before don’t worry, your digital champion can help you set it up and get started. They can also help you do what you need to online.
For example:
- set-up an email address
- set-up video calling so you can keep in touch with friends and family
- order groceries
- keep up-to-date with news and current affairs
- have access to useful Apps such as the NHS App or other relevant Apps
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous Great Britain (alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk)
Action for Advocacy www.actionforadvocacy.org.uk
Age UK www.ageuk.org.uk
Birmingham LGBT www.blgbt.org
Black Country emotional support helpline 0808 802 2288
CRUSE (Bereavement Care) Home - Cruse Bereavement Support
Cranstoun Sandwell https:/
CAB (Citizen Advice Bureau) Citizens Advice
CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) CALM Homepage | Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) (thecalmzone.net)
Carers UK 0808 808 7777
Combat Stress www.combatstress.org.uk
Childline www.childline.org.uk
Gamblers Anonymous www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk
Gingerbread www.gingerbread.org.uk
HOPEline UK www.papyrus-uk.org
KOOTH.COM
Lesbian and Gay switchboard 0300 330 0630
MIND www.mind.org.uk
Mental Health Matters 0300 323 0139
Men’s Advice Line and Domestic Violence 0808 801 0327
Narcotics Anonymous www.ukna.org
National Debt Line Debt advice | Free debt advice | National Debtline | National Debtline
NHS111 https://111.nhs.uk
Relate www.relate.org.uk
Recovery Near You www.recoverynearyou.org.uk
Supported Housing https://www.p3charity.org
Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Foundation (Kuumba Foundation) http:/
Sandwell Welfare Rights 0121 569 3158
Sandwell Childrens Trust 0121 569 3100
Samaritans Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen
Shelter www.shelter.org.uk
SANE line 0300 304 7000
SANDS www.sands.org.uk
SALMA Foodbank (Does not require food voucher) 07767 164246
The Silver Line The Silver Line Helpline
Victim Support www.victimsupport.org.uk
West Midlands Police 101 (in an emergency 999)
Women’s Aid https://blackcountrywomensaid.co.uk
Young Carers Team 0121 525 8002
Beacon Centre for the Blind help people living with sight loss to live fuller, more independent lives from building employment and life skills, increasing confidence, to reducing isolation and accessing the latest technology to transform lives, their charity has been helping blind and visually impaired people for over 140 years. Beacon Centre for the Blind | Making a Visible Difference for People with Sight Loss (beaconvision.org)
P3 charity is a charity and social enterprise, made up of passionate people, who care about people. They run a variety of services all across the UK, that aim to give everyone the chance to be part of the community they live in and feel connected to society. info
Thrive into Work offers one-to-one job finding support to people with health challenges. Thrive into Work (wmca.org.uk)
We are Group Offer free support for people who are in need to live better lives by removing barriers that prevent people from accessing government services, benefits, and digital applications. They help people fill out online forms including applying for visa's, offer money/debt advice and how to manage energy usage better, etc. Free Support
Zebra Access is a Deaf-led charity dedicated to ensuring that all Deaf and Hard of Hearing people enjoy equal participation and access without communication barriers. Based at the Science Park they hold coffee mornings in Wolverhampton City Centre. Zebra Access
Useful websites that offer free health & wellbeing apps and information:
General Health & Wellbeing
- Search for health and wellbeing apps - Staffordshire County Council
- NHS England » Wellbeing apps
- Better Health - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Health and wellbeing | City Of Wolverhampton Council
- Dudley CI
- Route2Wellbeing - Sandwell
Mental Health/Balance of Mind
- APPS | CAMHS Resources (camhs-resources.co.uk)
- NHS-Mental-Health-Apps.pdf (bsuh.nhs.uk)
- Mental Health | dudleysafeandsound
- NHS England » Wellbeing apps
- Mind app library (orchahealth.com)
Diabetes, Diet, Exercise and Weight Management
- https:/
/ www. digibete.org/ - NHS England » Digital weight management programme for NHS staff
- MyFitnessPal: Calorie Counter on the App Store (apple.com)
- Glucose Buddy Diabetes Tracker - Apps on Google Play
- Calorie Counter by Lose It! - Apps on Google Play
Musculoskeletal Conditions
- Versus Arthritis | All of us pushing to defy arthritis
- Royal Osteoporosis Society - Osteoporosis Charity UK (theros.org.uk)
- Pain Self Management by Pete Moore | The Pain Toolkit
- FMA UK - Info Booklets
Respiratory
Long Term Conditions – General
Palliative Care
- Healthier Futures - End of life care
- Planning Ahead: What matters most to you | Welcome (advancecareplanning.org.uk)
Housing
- Wolverhampton Homes - My account - Download from Google Play - Download from the App Store
Wolverhampton Homes manages around 21,000 properties on behalf of the City of Wolverhampton Council. Our mission is to help people get on in life. In an effort to make it easier for Wolverhampton Homes customers to manage their homes, WH released their WH My Account app in November 2023. The app is designed to make everyday housing-related tasks quick and simple. - Sandwell Housing - For any Housing enquiries in Sandwell please follow the following steps to access a wide range of support. It's really easy to register for a MySandwell account. We just need your name, your home address and email address. You can use your MySandwell account to view your Sandwell council tax, benefits and business rates or housing balances, make payments, request services, report problems and track any enquiries you put in to the council.
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Dudley’s Housing Register is open to people who have been living or working in the Dudley Borough for at least the last two years, subject to a number of conditions. To make a new application or manage an existing application please visit www.dudleyhomes.org.uk. If you require further information on your housing options this can be found at www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/housing/housing-options/applying-for-a-council-home.
City of Wolverhampton Council - Cost of Living Support Cost of Living Support | City Of Wolverhampton Council
We are asking all recipients to complete a brief baseline survey when collecting their device and at the end of the three month period. This is to determine if having a device/access to the internet has had a positive impact on your Health and Wellbeing, this could be helping you become more confident using the internet, helping you find employment, helping you gain more knowledge of health-related matters and using the NHS APP or simply helping you to keep-in-touch with family/friends via video/audio.
The surveys will give us an indication of existing use of a digital device, what the device was used for i.e., sending emails, social networking, online shopping, etc., and whether having access to a device/connectivity enabled you to keep-in-touch with your health care professionals such as GP, link worker, specialist nurse as well as being able to view and have access to your health care records. The surveys also ask if you would be interested in a basic IT skills course to help you gain better use of your device to which we can offer services within your area.
Please see links to the surveys below:
Baseline survey:
To be completed on the day of device collection, click here.
Three-month survey
To be completed at the end of the three-month device loan period, click here.
What is my ID code for?
This code is to identify you when Programme analysis are done. We use your post code to identify what area you live and date of birth to identify what age bracket you fall in to. We use a unique ID code so none of your personal details are shared with anyone outside of the Black Country Programme.
I can’t log in to the online surveys
Try coming out of the surveys tab and refreshing the Black Country Connected page by pressing on the refresh symbol at the top of the page. You can also press “ctrl + r”.
Will I get free support and updates on my device?
Yes, all support given to you by the Black Country Connected Programme is free of charge. We will automatically update your device if any software changes are upgraded during the period of your loan period.
Can I download any app on to my device?
You can download all, apart from apps that have been blacklisted by Black Country Connected such as gambling and adult content.
Can I view any web pages using my device?
You can view any web page apart from web sites that have been blacklisted by Black Country Connected such as gambling and adult sites.
How do I search for something on the internet?
You can type what it is you want to search in the search box at the top of the page.
There are various search engines you can use such as Google, Bing, Yahoo. If you would like to search an engine that doesn't collect or store your personal information, DuckDuckGo is privately focused that it doesn't even look at your location or IP address.
Can I give my device to someone else to use?
The device will be used only by yourself and your family and should not be loaned to others outside of your place of residence.
What if I want to withdraw my consent from the Programme?
You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting a member of the Black Country Connected Team. If consent is withdrawn within the first four weeks, we will delete all collected information relating to you and contact you to arrange return of the device. If consent is withdrawn after four weeks’ time, we will keep the baseline survey you completed for analysis at the end of the Programme and arrange a date for return of your device.
Once you have reached the end of your three month period, a member of the Black Country Connected team will contact you to discuss further actions and your experience with the device.
If you are a professional and would like to refer someone to receive a digital device, please contact Emma Sharman emma.
