I work in an NHS in-patient psychiatric rehab unit and operate in house training for patients. We are a closed UKOnline centre (not open to the public) and offer patients training through UKOnline and are also an OCR approved centre.
Obviously I am very keen on helping long term psychiatric patients to embrace new technology, many of our patients have missed out on chunks of their education and often the qualifications they get with me are the first formal ones they have been awarded.
We often find that many everyday tasks, such as setting up a mobile phone, downloading music etc. requires quite a bit of input to navigate through some of the sites, and often, as hospital in-patients usually have very basic bank accounts, they can find it difficult to take advantage of offers etc. as they do not have credit cards, their address is a shared hospital unit and may only have cashpoint cards.
This is only one example of accessibility being denied (usually unwittingly). Even such simple things as opening a bank account, getting a passport etc. when you have been in a variety of hospitals around the country so have no referees who have known you for long enough, can be very stressful.
Linda Woolverton
Oak House Training