The UK Digital Health and Care (UKDHC) organisation is proud to announce the official launch of The Real Deal, a national digital skills initiative designed to uplift and empower healthcare and social care professionals across the UK.

Driven by the urgent need to bridge digital gaps in the NHS and social care systems, the Real Deal offers accessible, practical learning and assessment opportunities to support staff in developing essential digital competencies.

“The UK has embraced digital transformation across many sectors, but our health and care systems have struggled to keep pace,” said Professor Angus Wallace, Executive Director of UKDHC. “The Real Deal is about doing something meaningful, practical and free to support our workforce.”

What is the Real Deal?

The Real Deal stands for:
Remote Evaluation And Lessons – Digital Expertise Assisted Learning

This innovative programme combines self-assessment with targeted, expert-led training to help health and care professionals understand their digital skill levels and learn in a modular, bite-size format.

Key features of the Real Deal:

• Self-assessment tool: A digital skills evaluation tool available online for all health and care professionals.
• Personalised reports: Participants receive a signed certificate outlining strengths and development areas.
• Tailored support: Guidance and signposting to appropriate training resources.
• Free mini-modules: Monthly online teaching sessions from leading UK universities, including the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), University of Warwick, and others.
• Certification: Participants receive certificates upon satisfactory completion of each mini-module.

Learning that works

Led by Jane Fitzgerald, Senior Lecturer at UCLan with over 25 years’ experience in distance learning for health and social care, the Real Deal modules are developed specifically for busy professionals.

“We’ve designed the Real Deal to be accessible, relevant and respectful of the realities that health and care staff face daily,” said Fitzgerald. “This is about enabling progress without pressure – giving professionals a way to grow their digital confidence in their own time and on their own terms.”

The first module, Digital Self-Assessment, went live in March 2025, followed by an introductory module on Health Informatics in April. Modules on Digital Safety and Data Protection are scheduled for May and June respectively.

As the programme develops, UKDHC intends to expand the Real Deal with further modules in partnership with a range of academic and professional contributors, building a growing library of practical, high-quality digital learning tailored to the needs of health and care professionals.

Free. Practical. Needed.

The Real Deal is completely free to access and intentionally designed to be inclusive and supportive – not judgemental. Professionals can use their assessment results privately or share them with employers to request further training.

Learn more and sign up:
https://ukdhc.info/course/ukdhc-the-real-deal
https://ukdhc.info/byte-sized-learning-an-introduction-to-health-informatics