Transforming therapy for practitioners and patients
Traditional care divisions often leave patients bouncing between services as their mental health needs change. To address this, the NHS has introduced an integrated primary and community mental health care model, providing seamless, patient-focused support across all levels of care.
With the introduction of integrated care systems (ICS), NHS England began a process of transformation of the way mental health services are delivered. Designed to put the needs of individuals and communities at the centre of the way services are organised, the ICSs are establishing partnerships between the NHS and other health and social care organisations, to create a more connected way of supporting people.
Within the NHS, traditional divisions between often siloed providers of mental health services are also being removed, to break down barriers to care and help people to get the support they need. Divisions between services such as primary and secondary care, or GPs and hospitals, have led to a disjointed and often frustrating experience for many patients – and for the practitioners who care for them.
Within the new Integrated Primary Community Mental Health Support model, there is an opportunity to further enhance cohesion and continuity, for both service users and practitioners, through the effective use of digital technology.
Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), the digital mental health platform is designed to support patients at every level of stepped care.
Integrated care systems (ICSs) can choose a programme or programme selection for every unique patient, specific to their level of need at any step along their care journey.
A key aim of the transformation of Integrated Primary Community Mental Health services is to eliminate exclusions based on a person’s diagnosis or level of complexity, and thereby avoid unnecessary repeat assessments and referrals.
The SilverCloud platform can aid this transformation by providing a wide range of programmes that are appropriate for use at all levels within an integrated service. Whether care needs to be stepped up or stepped down, there will be a programme that can support that journey.
Mental wellness goes beyond the patients who present in a crisis. Traditional services cannot upscale and recruit in a way that would allow an entire population to access a service; only digital is able to fill that space. In my experience, digital mental health solutions are a fundamental part of improving the health of our population. They provide a psychological therapy option that's immediately available and perfectly scalable.
Clinically proven and easily accessible digital programmes have a vital role to play in modernising community-based mental health services – and their ability to offer a whole-person, whole-population approach to healthcare.
By delivering effective treatments at scale, SilverCloud® by Amwell® digital mental health programmes have the power to bridge the gap in support and allow clinicians to provide care and guidance to patients who are spread across wide geographical areas.
By delivering a digital solution backed by 20+ years of research, healthcare workers can minimise unnecessary visits, prevent escalations, and scale access to care.
Clinicians will benefit from being able to provide a solution that will support patients with milder symptoms, allowing them to focus on the patients that require additional care.
Siloed health information increases clinician admin workload, reducing patient consultation time and creating a poor patient experience. The SilverCloud platform can be seamlessly integrated into NHS case management systems, such as PCMIS and IAUPTus, to support the delivery of joined up care. Its API (Application Programming Interface) enables patient data to move seamlessly throughout the stepped care model.
The SilverCloud platform enables us to offer a psychological therapy option to patients that's immediately available. There’s no waiting list and it's not dependent upon staff recruitment or other service inhibitors. Our hope is that by offering this service we can support more patients, faster, and perhaps even prevent people's mental health from deteriorating to the point of needing to see the GP in the first place.
Susan self-refers to NHS Talking Therapies. Multiple courses of NHS Talking Therapies treatment in the past have been unsuccessful.
The GP ARRS worker assessing Susan believes she would benefit from wider psychological treatment interventions and case worker support. So, she takes her case to the integrated Primary and Community MDT for discussion.
The NHS ARRS worker also refers Susan to use the SilverCloud Self-Management Toolkit. This not only provides Susan with prompt 24/7 support, but it also means her wellbeing can be monitored via questionnaires that are embedded in the platform.
During the assessment, Susan mentions that she is struggling with debt. She feels shame about this and does not want to be referred to a debt counselling service, but she agrees to look at the SilverCloud Money Worries programme, which she can do online.
The MDT agrees that Susan would benefit from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). She is offered a priority appointment with a clinical psychologist from the core community mental health team.
While waiting for an appointment, Susan continues to use the SilverCloud programmes. This allows her case worker to monitor her wellbeing and quickly spot any escalation in her symptoms.
Susan’s use of the Money Worries programme helps her understand her relationship with money. She begins to feel less ashamed. She agrees to be referred to a debt counsellor to make further progress.
Susan begins treatment with a clinical psychologist.
Her psychologist can log on to see the work she has already done on the SilverCloud platform. Susan continues to use the tools and modules as homework between face-to-face sessions. She is also allocated a support worker or a wellbeing life coach in between psychology sessions, to enable a blended approach to support.
At the end of her treatment, Susan is referred to the SilverCloud Recovery programme to embed her learnings and help prevent relapse.
