Seven integrated care boards in the south west have opened an opportunity highlighting their intention to commission a 24/7 text messaging support service.
The aim is to offer assistance to people at times of crisis, including those who are highly anxious, depressed, in a heightened emotional state or suicidal. It has been proposed as an opportunity to “offer an alternative to people who may not use telephone services to access emergency support,” while also helping to “reduce the number of people reaching crisis and need for further more intensive support”.
The ICBs have outlined their expected outcomes, mainly focused on providing direct support, setting up a referral service, the sharing of information and self-help tools, identification of serious risk of harm and escalation to emergency services when required, as well as offering support to people with known and ongoing mental health issues.
There are seven NHS ICBs involved in this new service, including Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Somerset. Each will have individual annual budgets with an estimated combined value of £658,000.
With this new service, area providers are expected to deliver “activity reports and thematic analysis of usage including reasons for service use, onward referrals and service outcomes”, with the information given said to help with decision-making surrounding longer term funding.
The commissioners of this project are searching for “expressions of interest from providers who have the capability and capacity to deliver the requirement, as well as responses to some general market engagement questions”. For further information, you can access the proposed service specification by registering and finding the opportunity on Atamis.
Digital support services: the wider trend
We recently shared insights from the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) on the implementation of automated texting to the trust’s computer aided dispatch system. The CAD sends texts automatically to mobile numbers for calls in specific categories at regular intervals, with the aim to provide guidance to callers waiting for a response, whilst also allowing them to cancel an ambulance or call the service back without need to ring 999. A reported 9,000 automated welfare texts were sent within a week, which were said to have “saved more than 300 hours in welfare calling; over 22 hours in call handling; and more than 15 hours in closing duplicate calls”.
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s new online self-referral service is aimed at supporting the process of getting checked for bowel cancer. We reported on how the service utilises cancer detection specialist C the Signs technology to enable patients to check their symptoms and use an online self-referral form if required.
And a new digital hub, commissioned by Leeds City Council, recently launched in Leeds, offering support and advice on sexual health in a “quick and accessible way”, giving valuable information specifically aimed at young people. It was developed to keep them informed about emergency contraception and testing for STIs, pregnancy and HIV.
Interested in learning more about digital transformation in healthcare? Make sure you check out our upcoming panel discussions, including one on what it means to be a leader of digital change and another on the role digital can play in mental health transformation.
