About Digital Health and Care
Does digital technology affect my rights?
In 2021, we developed five principles for human rights in digital health and
social care and these were refreshed in 2025. If respected, these principles
can help us avoid the potential pitfalls of digital. They can also help us
ensure that everyone benefits from their right to health in a digital future.
The five principles are:
- Person led services with people at the centre:
- People should be involved in co-creating digital services, deciding how, where and when digital is used in health and social care.
- People should have access to inclusive and flexible digital services that meet their needs, rights, preferences and choices, with support if appropriate.
- Digital as an informed, meaningful, ongoing choice:
- People should be able to make an informed choice between using digital and non-digital health and social care services - and to switch between them at any time - without compromising the quality of care they experience.
- Digital Inclusion: embedding safety, skills and confidence:
- Everyone has the access, skills and confidence to utilise digital services if they choose to do so, regardless of their socioeconomic background, location or ability.
- Quality digital experiences - rights and system responsibilities:
- Digital services should be accessible, trustworthy and inclusive, providing a high quality digital experience for people who use them.
- Services should be accompanied by supportive initiatives to provide tailored support, coaching and practical resources to assist those who might be experiencing digital inequality.
- Secure access and control of personal data:
- People should have access to data held about them by health and social care services and have control over this data and how it is used.
You can find out more about our Human Rights Principles in Digital Health and Social Care here.
