The Effect of Remote Digital Services on Health Care Inequalities Among People Under Long-Term Dermatology Follow-Up: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

Background: Given the expansion of remote digital dermatology services from the National Health Service, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for methods that identify patients at risk of digital exclusion to guide equitable representation in service co-design processes and tailor remote services to the needs of their patient population.

Objective: This quality improvement project aims to inform the redesign of remote services to optimally support the ongoing needs of patients with chronic skin diseases, ensuring that the services are tailored to patients' digital health literacy requirements.

Methods: We profiled the digital health literacy of 123 people with chronic skin conditions who require long-term surveillance in 2 specialist clinics (London, United Kingdom) using the Multidimensional Readiness and Enablement Index for Health Technology (READHY) questionnaire alongside the Optimizing Health Literacy and Access (Ophelia) process for hierarchical cluster analysis.