Our Health Tech Awards 2022 finalists in the category of ‘digital mental health solution of the year’ are:
Emotional ABCs
Overview: Emotional ABCs aims to empower children with better emotional skills.
Why? Through emotional awareness and control, children can make better decisions for their present and future.
What happened? Emotional ABCs teaches emotional regulation to children between the ages of four and 11. The evidence-based programme is available to parents and schools and is currently free to teachers and school counsellors in physical schools worldwide. It is used in more than 118,000 schools across more than 120 countries, and therapists, mental health counsellors and hospitals also use the programme as part of their mental health strategies. It handles areas such as school readiness (including the ability to self-soothe and work through emotions, setting the foundation for social and academic success); frustration and acting out (helping children to recognise their emotions and express themselves); and impulse control (supplying children with simple tools in order to slow themselves down and identify feelings before taking action).
Looking ahead. Once children learn their emotional ABCs, they are set to use them every day for the rest of their lives, just as they do with the regular alphabet.
RwHealth
Overview: RwHealth Mental Health Flow Tool (MHFT) accelerated Central and North West London (CNWL) in their mission to provide care closer to home and right-size wards for more therapeutic environments.
Why? CNWL reported a relatively high length of stay and bed usage for its population compared to peers. The large-bedded wards in CNWL made a therapeutic environment difficult where admission remained necessary.
What happened? Transformation plans were formed and changes were underway when the pandemic struck, resulting in a need to facilitate early discharge for as many inpatients as possible. With CNWL recognising that removing more beds would help inpatients in need of a therapeutic environment, RwHealth provided the necessary tools by highlighting the extent to which beds were being filled by A&E admissions, allowing the CNWL team to easily evidence a need for this to change. With these changes implemented, the MHFT provided clear visualisation of the situation before and after to help measure the effectiveness and determine the source of improvements at a glance. Accurate monitoring enabled each team involved in the acute pathway to build, track and meet appropriate KPIs, and the deep-dive visibility provided by the MHFT guided the consultation rationale and facilitated new ways of working.
Looking ahead. Many lessons were learned and boroughs have subsequently run their own local Multi-Agency Discharge Event as part of their own efforts to minimise discharge delays with local partners.
ReStart
Overview: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM), has pioneered a new point-of-care test (POCT) which measures blood levels of anti-psychotics from a single drop of blood, with the support of ReStart’s digital integration and artificial intelligence.
Why? The ambition of this work was to realise the benefits of immediate access to results, with the new process capable of saving time and resources.
What happened? The new POCT provides instantaneous results, utilising interoperability across data collection points, patient records and Cogstack AI for processing of results. Having instantaneous results at the POCT meant that patients were better informed about their care and demonstrated better adherence and increased engagement in their treatment, resulting in fewer lapses and associated re-hospitalisations. To aid this work, SLAM has created a visualisation display for the outputs of the POCT results, which gives clinicians direct access to results and the ability to calculate trends across defined period. Clinicians can see the patient’s clozapine level in real-time and make dose adjustments accordingly. This involves collating the POCT results with historical data and feeding it through an algorithm in the Cogstack AI. Mitigating factors such as gender, weight and other medications are taken into account to derive each individual’s optimum medication level.
Looking ahead. Published studies indicate considerable benefits in financial, planning and patient outcomes.
My Possible Self
Overview: My Possible Self is a mental health app with an expanding collection of clinically-certified, interactive and accessible content developed with Priory Healthcare.
Why? Content on My Possible Self provides a library of interactive tools, helpful tips and visual and mental exercises to help users manage anxiety, tackle repression, reduce stress and improve sleep.
What happened? My Possible Self was founded as an app in 2017 and listed in the NHS Apps Library in 2018. It took part in the NHS Digital Health London accelerator programme and won its first commission with the NHS to combat poor mental health in London, working with the Good Thinking Project. Good Thinking recommissioned My Possible Self. In 2021, the app was made available globally and has been downloaded in nearly 200 countries. It contains the following core guided series: Overcoming Anxiety; Tackling Depression; Managing Stress; Sleeping Well; Eating Healthily and Staying Hydrated; Keeping Active; Drinking Safely; Gambling Safely; Men’s Mental Health; and Coping with Loss and Grief.
Looking ahead. With the NHS facing record demand for mental health services, My Possible Self’s clinically-certified, interactive and accessible content from Priory Healthcare provides valuable support for people and is accessible 24/7, free of charge.
Mayden
Overview: Mayden’s electronic patient management software, iaptus, is codesigned with clinicians to help services deliver patient-centred, outcome-focused and data-driven care.
Why? iaptus aims to help the NHS cope with pressure by working to improve efficiency so that clincians can spend more time providing high quality care.
What happened? Mayden reached out to customers early in the pandemic and asked them what they could do to help. The overwhelming response was to set up more remote access tokens so that staff could work remotely from home, and to integrate video functionality into clinical record software so that care could be delivered remotely and securely by therapists. A team of Mayden staff were diverted to help services set up more remote users and issued free tokens to customers in need, and following development work, video consultation software was deployed to help customers deliver continuous, high quality care for patients. This functionality has allowed services to deliver 101,590 sessions last year alone. Recognising the potential of iaptus to support other types of service, Mayden reached out to staff and wellbeing services created to support NHS and social care workers throughout the pandemic and now supports 40 percent of these services.
Looking ahead. Feedback indicates 99.2 percent customer support satisfaction, showing how Mayden’s services support staff in continuing to deliver high quality care.
ECG On-Demand
Overview: ECG On-Demand offers a 12-Lead ECG interpretation service as a solution to improve patient and clinician experience within mental health trusts across the UK.
Why? The entry states cardiac changes such as increased QT levels have been found in mental health patients taking anti-psychotic drugs; ECGs are recommended for these individuals. Due to accurate QT measurements required for mental health patients, the 12-lead reports include a manually adjusted measurement view as the automated ECG machine derived values are often inaccurate. Additionally, the ECG is examined by an experienced clinician in near real-time, which is particularly important for mental health patients as they are often reluctant to attend conventional healthcare settings.
What happened? Along with continuous (24 hours and more) monitoring and analysis, ECG On-Demand uses a hybrid approach of human expertise and machine learning, as assistance, for accuracy and speed. Once there is an ECG recording, an expert cardiologist examines the trace and returns the results to the clinician as a digital report. Included in the report is an automated traffic light risk rating system that is constantly refined and allows patients to be triaged efficiently. Consultant cardiologists are available for clinician-to-clinician advice and guidance if required through an e-consultation service.
Looking ahead. ECG On-Demand has cut diagnosis waiting times, improving patient experience, and reduced unnecessary hospital visits, supporting workforce pressures and further reducing patient anxiety.
TellMi
Overview: TellMi is an early intervention mental health service, delivering fully moderated, evidence-based peer support to young people aged 11-25 via an app.
Why? The entry notes figures from the Children’s Society in 2021 show that 34 percent of children referred to NHS mental health services are not accepted into treatment. TellMi is an accessible, scalable and preventative solution that supports young people before they reach crisis stage.
What happened? TellMi aims to provide a safe space for young people to talk about difficult things. Through the pandemic, TellMi provided 6000 young people a month with immediate access to support via their smartphones. TellMi has gained positive traction with the NHS, schools and local authorities, providing insight into the issues young people are facing. In 2021, the Evidence Based Practice Unit conducted a study of 876 young people using the TellMi app. The study found that 72 percent of young people who used TellMi felt better, 79 percent felt less alone and 78 percent found it easier to talk about difficult things anonymously on the app.
Looking ahead. Following a successful pilot in Somerset, TellMi was commissioned by the CCG and adoption of the technology is currently taking place. Ongoing pilots in Staffordshire and Warwickshire are providing positive results, with high levels of engagement and gratitude from young people using the service.
