Covid has unleashed the digital patient in the healthtech world. Granny can Skype now! Everyone knew that anyway, but hey it’s new for some.
Leaving aside the innate condescension in the use of the word patient, should we really be using such terminology? Before we realised that people could switch on and use computers, were they trifold leaflet patients? Radio ad patients? Stuck in a cold community hall patients?
Defining an audience group by communication channel is just weird. It might be new for some, but it’s not new for anyone else. Just call people people, or service users, or citizens – something at least that reflects the rounded nature of lived human experience.