A hypnotherapy-based virtual reality treatment is to be piloted at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, with aims to help ease symptoms including hallucinations and delusions in patients with psychosis.
The VR headsets will be used in the trust’s rehabilitation wards to support patients in engaging with therapeutic exercises such as calming breathing and visualisation techniques.
Dr Aileen O’Brien, consultant psychiatrist at the trust, said the programme has been “incredibly effective” in helping students manage exam stress, and highlighted hopes that it could have “the same positive impact on patients with psychosis”.
The pilot is to involve a collaborative design process with patients and staff to ensure that the VR experience meets the needs of patients with psychosis, with Dr O’Brien to “work closely” with patients to help customise the programme.
Exploring digital mental health
HTN took a deep dive into digital mental health at the end of October, exploring key updates in this space over the past few months, from plans to improve data use within mental health services to how a chatbot can be utilised to support mental health referrals; and taking a look at some audience views, research, and mental health learnings from HTN’s network.
Earlier this week, Birmingham and Solihull ICB has proposed new plans for the region’s Children and Young People Mental Health Transformation Programme, outlining suggested changes to service delivery with the aim of improving access to mental health care and highlighting digital innovation as a “major vehicle for change”.
You can also join us for our upcoming event on digitising mental health trusts for improved patient care, scheduled for the 21 November, where guest presenters will share their experiences digitising patient records at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Innovation across the NHS
We recently highlighted how the UK government has awarded £12 million in funding for projects utilising innovative technologies such as AI, VR and wearable sensors in supporting people with drug addictions and reducing drug-related deaths.
At the end of October, we looked at some of the latest use cases and research around artificial intelligence across the NHS, including for predicting disease development, detecting lung cancer, analysing brain tumours, and more. We also covered the use of AI in tackling waiting lists at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, with a focus on a collaborative project designed to reduce the number of missed appointments.
Elsewhere, Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust launched an immersive simulation suite designed to support training for multi-disciplinary staff in the development of a range of clinical and non-clinical skills, with technology utilised to “create lifelike visual surroundings, sounds and smells”; whilst North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust implemented livestreaming technology to support maternity care, enabling student midwives, student nurses and resident doctors to observe caesarean section surgery in real time.
