The last few months have been pivotal for mental health services, with no shortage of announcements and reports setting out the future direction for services and discussing the challenges that will need to be addressed along the way. Time and again, these publications identify the same core issues: lack of resources, lack of funds and increasing demand.
Also common to these papers is a recommendation to embrace digital tools to help cope with some of these challenges.
Digital offers benefits to both services and patients. Services can benefit from higher access rates, lower wait times and reduced session costs. Crucially, digital offers patients more choice in how, when and where their care is delivered.
With these benefits in mind, we created Prism – securely linking IAPT services with online therapy providers. The hub was created to eliminate barriers to, and speed up the adoption of eHealth in IAPT.
Next week is UK eHealth Week and we will be sharing with you a series of guest blogs from our online therapy partners, highlighting some of the benefits of eHealth and drawing on their own experiences, both here and abroad.
In the meantime, below are some recent publications which include details on why and how digital can be used within mental health services.
- The Roadmap to Compassionate Mental Healthcare Karen Turner’s presentation for the New Savoy Partnership
- The Five Year Forward View Mental Health Task Force report
- Delivering the Benefits of Digital Healthcare Nuffield Trust
- The Digital Revolution: 8 Technologies that will Change Health and Care Kings Fund
- Tackling the Growing Crisis in the NHS Kings Fund
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on the adoption of eHealth. Join the conversation on Twitter, @iaptustweets.
