North Central London (NCL) ICB has shared its intention to award a contract worth £405k to Kooth Digital Health Limited, for the supply of an early intervention online counselling and digital support service for children and young people aged 11-25.
The two-year contract is set to run until 31 March 2028, and includes the provision of a safe online platform with drop-in and booked 1:1 text-based counselling services available Monday to Friday 12:00 – 22:00, and weekends 18:00 – 22:00.
Moderated forums and self-help content will also be included in the service, along with signposting and step-up/step-down pathways to local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
The decision to award the contract to Kooth Digital Health Limited follows an assessment of the provider’s current and likely future performance, NCL explains, with scores for key criteria including 34 percent out of a possible 34 percent for quality and innovation; 15 percent out of a possible 20 percent for value; 24 percent out of a possible 24 percent for integration, collaboration, and service sustainability; 7.5 percent out of a possible 12 percent for improving access and reducing health inequalities; and 7.5 percent out of a possible 10 percent for social value.
“With a combined score of 92.5 percent out of a possible 100 percent it demonstrates the providers current and likely future performance to deliver the commissioned activity,” the ICB concludes. To view the contract award notice, please click here.
Wider trend: Digital mental health
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has issued new guidance for the public and healthcare professionals on the use of apps and digital tools for mental health support, aiming to help people make more informed choices and “know what to do if something doesn’t feel right”. As part of the new guidance, the agency has published online resources including animations and real-world examples demonstrating “what safe, well-evidenced digital mental health technologies look like in practice”, going on to explain how to report concerns through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. The resources form part of a project designed to support the safe and effective use of digital mental health technologies, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Researchers at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge are to lead on a project to create a “publicly accessible platform for exploring how genes and molecules influence mental health”. The Open Psychiatry Project has been provided with £2.3 million funding from the UK Research and Innovation Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The project aims to deliver a platform to offer data-driven support to researchers, clinicians, health partners and patients when it comes to understanding mental health conditions and how best to treat them.
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has published its three-year trust strategy, supported by a series of enabling strategies outlining plans and priorities for care, people, working together, and research and innovation. The trust commits to exploring the potential uses of digital solutions and delivering digitally empowered care, vowing to use technology to make care more accessible and personalised, and to support colleagues to work “efficiently and effectively”. Plans around digitally empowered care involve promoting digital access to services and support, introducing new digital tools to make care more efficient, embracing new ways of working enabled by digital, and making it easier to collect, use, and share data to facilitate the planning of services and evidence-based decision making.
