Why technology is a key partner to mental health services

On ‘Time to Talk’ day, James Balmain, CEO of Induction Healthcare, comments on how technology is making healthcare more accessible and the benefits this will bring.

‘Time to Talk’ day marks an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that mental health services have faced throughout the pandemic and the role that technology can play in ensuring that more people have access to support as and when they require it. The pandemic has placed significant pressures on mental health services, and it is estimated by Mind that 1 in 4 people couldn’t access mental health support during the first lockdown.

One of the specific areas that was significantly impacted by the pandemic were group services, such as addiction and mental health therapy provision where people gathered in groups to receive face to face support. Whilst the UK may now be learning to live with COVID-19, the challenges facing these services look set to continue - it is estimated that 10 million additional people may require mental health support over the next three to five years.

Digital solutions can play a key role in addressing these challenges as part of a flexible care delivery model. While many people need or want to consult face to face, others actively prefer remote consultations. To enable this for group services, we have recently co-developed a feature alongside several key Trusts across NHS England, Scotland and Wales on our Induction Attend Anywhere platform. This feature allows over 100 patients to participate in remote clinical group consultations with all the security and access control benefits offered by the core platform.

The current challenge

At present, there are 1.6 million people in England on the official waiting list for mental health issues, with millions more unable to access the support they require. Crisis referrals have increased (a 30% increase compared to 2019, and a 74% increase compared to 2017). This backlog is having a huge impact on people up and down the country and addressing this challenge will require both making mental health services more accessible for patients and unlocking clinical workforce capacity to support this increased demand. The most recent meeting of NHS Heads acknowledged that ‘workforce remains the biggest risk to service delivery and responding to current operational pressures as well as delivering the Long Term Plan and expanding mental health services to meet the growing need.

During the pandemic, many Trusts continued to deliver excellent care through remote consulting platforms - although this wasn’t without its challenges. Clinicians had to rely on non-clinical business conferencing facilities which have privacy and usability limitations. A report by Mind referenced these concerns, with 34% of respondents being worried about the confidentiality of such platforms. Induction Attend Anywhere group clinical consultations addresses this by offering providers a single-entry link for each clinical group consultation Waiting Area, avoiding the challenges of juggling multi-patient links and helping to safeguard patient confidentiality. These key features ensure that no digital footprint is left by patients and the consultation room cannot be re-joined meaning private chat data cannot be compromised or accessed by any other party.

This platform has been designed to mirror standard clinical and patient workflow virtually for optimum integration. This generates unique benefits for the NHS as it can accommodate a large quantity of patients at once, without increasing demand on physical resources such as meeting rooms and parking spaces, while unlocking additional clinical workforce using providers who can work from home.

Benefit to patients

Evidence gathered throughout the pandemic shows that patients suffering from mental health issues found that travelling to in-person appointments in clinical settings created an additional level of anxiety and stress when deciding whether to access appointments. Patients who participate in regular therapy face additional challenges when travelling to and from physical appointments which impacts their ability to work, train or provide care to others. Mind reported that 30% of patients surveyed benefitted from virtual support as it allowed quicker access to a healthcare professional. Remote appointments were also beneficial as they reduced patients’ fears about getting ready and travelling, especially for those who are physically disabled or who have physical health conditions in addition to their mental health problems.

Future of healthcare

‘Time to Talk’ day is a fresh opportunity for NHS Leaders to reflect on their use of technology to deliver mental health services and explore how embracing new innovations like remote group consultations could deliver better outcomes for the patients they support. As Mind noted, “it is clear that digital and remote technologies will play an increasing part of mental health support in the future.”

The development of technology such as Induction Attend Anywhere group consultations, offers patients and clinicians crucial immediate support. New approaches such as this can act as an important tool in enabling community-based healthcare - a key aim of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Whether dealing with group therapies or individual patient consultations, we are committed to working alongside the NHS to ensure that this technology is effectively used to deliver true flexible care capability that spans all patient pathways – and are excited by the enthusiasm of our hospital partners to embrace new ways of delivering care.