The West Midlands Digital Health Collective

Our main aim is to develop understanding and nurture relationships between clinicians, technology providers, and underserved populations to help ensure that all sections of the population see the benefits of digital health care.

We will meet this aim by creating a sustainable collective comprising representatives from our stakeholders’ different areas of expertise. The Collective will investigate and support the development of digital health solutions informed by the core principles of co-production: equality, diversity, accessibility, and reciprocity. Power will be shared across the group. Everyone will be listened to and valued equally and decisions are made jointly.

The work has three interrelated elements.

1. Publish an evidence synthesis of best practice in inclusive digital health co-production. (The review can be found here)
2. Identify and engage with citizens, health and social care professionals, commissioners and health technology providers to develop a digital health co-production collective. Including the provision of tailored training for all groups in the various aspects of coproduction.
3. Convene a series of workshops to encourage interaction and build trust amongst members whilst: reviewing current digital solutions; supporting the development of emerging digital health technology; and generating learning on how collaboration in the design, implementation and evaluation of technology-enabled health care can be sustained across the West Midlands.

The collective is designed to support projects at many levels. From the early stages of idea development to the user testing of prototype tools. The two ongoing projects epitomise this scope.

• Raising digital health literacy

The theme of lack of digital health literacy was raised by members as a topic to explore collectively, noting challenges of inclusive language, and support for using digital tools. Two sub-groups have been formed: one looking at the effectiveness of different delivery locations and content of digital health support; the other into the use of pictorial language with the aim of supporting access to primary care systems.

• Amar Doctor

Amar Doctor is an AI-enabled translation tool designed to support triage and access in general practice, with functionality to capture symptoms, clinical problems, across diverse Bangladeshi dialects.

Currently in use in Bangladesh, MedAi Health is in the process of adapting the App for Bangladeshi communities in the UK (see our recent publication). A sub-group of the Collective are supporting this adaptation linking the developers with a range of representatives from the local Bangladeshi community and clinicians to ensure it captures local dialects and work flows.

If you are interested in understanding more about the collective, have ideas or challenges you would like to bring to the collective, or otherwise understand more of what the collective is trying to achieve please contact Helen Juffs, BVSC – helenj@bvsc.org / 07391 681 797

Main contacts and administration:

• Dr Ian Litchfield – University of Birmingham, Birmingham Health Partners
• Helen Juffs – Co-production Lead, Health and Social Care, BVSC (Birmingham Voluntary Services Council)

Current members and partners

• MD-TEC – Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre (clinical)
• Birmingham Health Partners (clinical)
• Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (community)
• LL Informatics (tech developers)
• Unboxed (tech developers)
• University of Birmingham (academic partners)
• West Midlands Combined Authority (local authority)
• Individuals from different Birmingham communities representing themselves (not named due to GDPR - citizens)

• Litchfield I, Shukla D, Greenfield S. Understanding digital inclusion through the transformation of services and users: a narrative review and novel framework. BMJ Digital Health & AI. 2026;2:e000051.
• Litchfield I, Delanerolle G, Juffs H, Bloxham S, Dunning S and Harper L (2025) Increasing the inclusivity of digital health co-production: an integrative review. Front. Digit. Health 7:1636469.
• I.Litchfield, G.Delanerolle, L.Harper, and S.Dunning, “Understanding Acceptability of AI Triage Tools Amongst Underserved Populations: Lessons From the Early Phases of Co-Production With Bangladeshi Communities in Birmingham, UK,” Health Expectations28 (2025).