Realising the potential of technology to improve care and outcomes
Fully harnessing digital technology, in particular electronic patient record systems that are fit for purpose in mental health services and shared care records, will create significant opportunities for enabling data-driven decision making, delivering better and safer mental health care, and improving patient and staff experiences.
When we surveyed trust leaders in October 2024, they identified significant barriers to digital transformation:
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73% highlighted funding and financial constraints as a key barrier;
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50% highlighted operational pressures impacting clinical engagement training and adoption of technology; and
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38% highlighted inadequate infrastructure (e.g., reliable wi-fi) as a key barrier.
The challenge of recruiting and retaining digital skillsets was also noted by respondents and echoed in our most recent conversations with trust leaders and stakeholders.
The shift of analogue to digital will be the biggest challenge, as will the reduction in resource.
combined mental health / learning disability and community trust
Putting the digital fundamentals in place would increase trusts’ capacity to test and deploy existing as well as new digital innovations to further transform and improve care and service delivery. Digital progress is not just about the technology; it is also about the culture, people and processes to meet the raised expectations of patients and staff in the internet era. Designing and delivering successful digital programmes relies on strong clinical and board leadership that encourages an innovative culture and empowers teams. Better use of digital technologies is also underpinned by investment in cross-functional, multidisciplinary teams rather than just projects.
Mental health trust leaders have told us there is also a need to harness digital technology and ways of working in a way that improves efficiency, for example, taking further steps to move from simply data inputting towards more sophisticated data design and analysis. Another example shared was ensuring the scheduling of appointments changes to take account of any time saved by the use of new digital technologies such as ambient transcription.
To harness the potential of digital transformation for improving efficiency, care and outcomes in mental health services, we need to:
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Put the digital fundamentals in place in mental health trusts, such as electronic patient records that are fit for purpose for mental health services, shared care records and reliable infrastructure
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Recruit and retain staff teams within mental health trusts with the digital skillsets required to support the successful adoption and ongoing use of technology
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Enable strategic investment in mental health services’ digital needs to improve access and care delivery, and central support on supplier relationships.