Mental health is a key priority for the NHS, as outlined in the Long Term Plan (2019). We work with NHS commissioners and service providers, industry partners, other Health Innovation Networks and the voluntary sector to identify and spread innovations and improvements in mental healthcare. We are developing a sustainable work programme that aligns with local needs and NHS priorities.
We aim to be a key partner and a valuable source of support. We will ensure the patient voice is heard and included within all aspects of mental health care provision. We will work to address inequalities in access and treatment, and we will support efforts to address workforce issues and implement the aims of the government’s Ten Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future (2025).
Mental health, as well as health issues such as neurodiversity, dementia, self-harm and suicide, impacts the lives of many people, including those supporting or caring for individuals. Our work seeks to better meet the needs of those living with these health issues, including improvements to the quality of provision, trialling or adopting new treatments or therapies, and supporting those delivering or developing innovations within this field.
We offer expertise around evaluating treatments, pathways and new products, quality improvement projects and programmes, as well as expertise and knowledge around NHS Talking Therapies (formerly Improving Access to Psychological Therapies), suicide and self-harm prevention, and digital approaches to reducing the impact of insomnia and other sleep disorders.
Our mental health team also offers coaching and support to staff and colleagues to help them improve their services and the quality of provision. This work includes support for projects and coaching for whole teams, treatment areas or wards.
We have a particular interest in the development and potential use of digital therapeutics – those products where an evidence-based treatment is delivered to a patient via a digital platform in order to treat or prevent illness – and the emerging benefits offered through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. We also fully recognise the need for patient choice and acceptability of such approaches. We work closely with patients and their carers, as well as clinical colleagues within the NHS, to ensure that new products are patient-friendly, evidence-based, and deemed acceptable and helpful.
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