Black Country Connected is a Programme to loan residents in the Black Country a Geobook Laptop with an option to receive connectivity, when available, to enable them 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.
Please check this page for regular updates.
Eligibility criteria: for people who have no/limited access to a digital device, no/limited connectivity, no/limited skills to use technology, no confidence to use a device and who require additional support to do so. Recipients will be invited to an ad-hoc hub day to collect their device and will be given one-to-one assistance. We ask all recipients to complete a baseline survey upon collecting their device and one at three months which will help when evaluating the programme. The recipient will have access to a telephone/email support service during the three-month programme for any technical issues/queries they may have.
If you think that any of your service users would benefit from this scheme and would like to refer into the programme, please refer to the referral form embedded within the GP clinical systems or, if you are non-NHS, please request a copy and further information about the programme from Emma Sharman, Digital Inequalities Lead via 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.
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
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.
Below is a list of organisations who are working with the Black Country Connected programme to support each recipient of a device:
Walsall College
Provide students with an excellent learning experience, education and skills development to support them into higher levels of study and jobs.
Colleges West Midlands
Colleges West Midlands is helping to raise the technical skills of young people and adults in full-time education, upskilling in the workplace, undertaking an Apprenticeship or pursuing a higher education programme either full or part-time.
Welcome - Colleges West Midlands
Recovery College
The Recovery College provides an educational learning environment for people who have an interest in, or personal difficulties with, mental health. Their courses celebrate their successes and build on existing skills and strategies rather than highlighting problems or failures.
We-Are-Digital
Offer Digital Skills Training which is designed to make sure nobody gets left behind. Courses focus on everything from basic IT skills and introductions to specific programmes right through to comprehensive and advanced user experiences.
www.we-are-digital.co.uk
Healthwave – Digital Carers
Offer support, advice and share ideas for Digital Carers who are helping others with digital tasks but may find it difficult themselves.
www.
One Health and Care: NHS Shared cared record
A way of bringing together all your separate records from the different organisations involved in your health and care which will allow professionals who are directly involved with your care see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all services, in all parts of the Black Country and West Birmingham, meaning you only have to tell your story once, as all our health and care professional have instant access to all the information they need to treat you in the fastest, safest and most effective way.
P3 charity
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.
P3 - Changing lives every day (p3charity.org)
Thrive into Work
Thrive into Work offers one-to-one job finding support to people with health challenges.
Thrive into Work (wmca.org.uk)
One Walsall Voluntary Sector
Good Things Foundation
They co-design free online learning resources to help people take their first and further steps online. They also offer free resources to help people develop digital skills to make the most of the online world.
Good Things Foundation - Improving lives through digital
Beacon Centre for the Blind
We 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.
Serco - Essential Digital Skills
Serco via the Adult Skills for Work contract can offer FULLY FUNDED digital qualifications to EMPLOYED residents of Birmingham, Dudley and Sandwell. Our courses are delivered 100% remotely so you can learn from the comfort of your own home! You could gain qualifications in ‘Essential Digital Skills’, ‘Coding Practices’ and ‘Cyber Security Practices’. Our Coding and Cyber Security courses can also be accessed by anyone who is not in employment and is aged 24+ with no Level 3 qualifications. To find out more please contact the following email addresses:
Essential Digital Skills – digitalskills
Coding/Cyber Security – adultskills
Santander Universities
They are supporting Higher Education over the last 25 years with a range of support aimed at improving access to Education, Entrepreneurship and Employability by providing life-changing opportunities for students across the globe. Here in the UK, we have partnerships with 85 universities and have provided over £95 million pounds worth of philanthropic support towards Higher Education since its inception in 2007. To further extend our support across the UK, we are also turning our attention to lifelong learning to help a new audience of UK adults with a range of opportunities to support them in the long term. It’s key to let you know that you do not have to be a Santander client or customer to take part in any of them either.
Santander Universities | Santander UK
Barclays Digital Wings
Digital Wings is designed to provide a tailored learning experience to suit anyone wanting to improve their digital know-how. As a group or on your own, the learning provided will support someone starting out, right through to learning new skills using technology. To register for free courses, enter the code NHSBCCGEO when signing up.
Learn more about Barclays Digital Wings
Good Things Foundation
Learn My Way is a free online platform that helps people gain basic digital skills and improve their digital literacy to make the most of our online world. Our bite-sized topics are suitable for beginners that have no or low digital skills, allowing everyone to benefit from using digital devices and accessing essential online services.
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.
