News, NHS trust

Central and North West London NHS awards contract for digital neurodevelopment assessments

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a contract for digital neurodevelopment assessments with an estimated value of £749,000 to online mental health, autism and ADHD service provider Healios.

Healios is described as offering a range of mental health assessments and treatments for children and young people aged seven to 25 along with their families, with a digital multidisciplinary team collaborating with local services in order to increase capacity, improve quality and reduce waiting times.

The supplier currently has a reported 220 registered clinicians covering 30 different specialties, and states that through their services mental health assessments “can be accessed within days of referral”, or one month for autism and ADHD assessments. Children and young people undertake an online assessment to help understand needs and identify challenges, with continued support including personalised theory which can be delivered via video session with a clinician, through text, or via self-care exercises on an app.

HTN previously covered NICE’s conditional recommendation for Healios’ app back in November 2022, which offers psychoeducational and CBT-based content with wrap-around clinician support.

On a related note around mental health support, last month we highlighted how Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust is participating in NHSE’s 26-week Clinically-Led workforce and Activity Redesign (CLEAR) project, which will see the “revamp” of mental health crisis referral pathways.

In other news around contract awards, HTN has recently reported on a £1.99 million contract awarded for technical services to support NHS Digital Staff Passport development; and an NHSE contract worth over £98,000 for a review of London region’s virtual ward and remote monitoring programme, which went to Health Innovation Network.

Finally, in news from the capital, last week we shared how £1.5 million in funding has been made available to 22 NHS trusts across South East London ICS for devices designed to automate red blood cell exchanges for patients with sickle cell disease.