Jalal, 40 has been booking appointments at the GP online for his young family after attending digital skills sessions at Online Centre Smartlyte in Birmingham.
Jalal first started going to a dad’s group at Smartlyte when he wanted to improve his English skills.
Centre manager Salim says: “We work with hard to reach communities and try to remove the barriers in their development. As a result, we blend our ESOL classes with our IT classes and take our learners back to basics.”
For Jalal, it was about progressing his skills beyond what he was able to do with his smartphone. Jalal says: “I was very confident using a phone, I’ve taken over 5,000 photographs but wasn’t sure how to advance from there.”
Once he improved his skills, Jala began to discover more ways in which both he and his family could benefit. Salim explains: “The sessions were absolutely ideal as Jalal’s wife speaks very little English so Jalal communicates on behalf of his young family.
“Jalal had two very young children so looking at online health service was quite relevant for him at the time. We went through using search engines, how to contact the local GP service, booking appointments,” says Salim.
Jalal is now able to book appointments online for his family. He says: “I don’t think I’d be able to live without the internet now!”