ieso submits evidence to the UK Department of Health and Social Care to inform the Government’s 10-year Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan
Last week ieso submitted evidence to the UK Department of Health and Social Care to inform the Government’s 10-year Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan.
We believe high-quality mental healthcare should be available as soon as people need it, so millions more people can live flourishing lives.
The past decade has seen a transformation in evidence-based mental healthcare through the NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. However, the mental health crisis is growing, with long waiting lists for treatment, and people often struggling to find an approach that works best for them.
We see huge potential for new digital technologies and data-driven insights to promote innovation that drives rapid access to high-quality, personalised and effective mental healthcare. We know this is possible: as a provider of online psychological therapy for the NHS, ieso pioneered remote delivery of effective digital healthcare. And by systematically analysing what works in therapy, and for which individuals, we have produced ground-breaking insights into mental health conditions that are transforming outcomes for patients. We see huge potential to scale up approaches like ours across the whole NHS – the resulting innovation would surpass all other efforts across the globe.
Dr Andrew Welchman, EVP Impact, said: “Mental health issues touch every family on earth, yet across the planet we are struggling to meet the challenge. By allowing us to start sooner, treat smarter and scale up, digital innovation is key to addressing the mental health crisis. The potential for the NHS to take the global lead in innovative mental healthcare by harnessing digital solutions transformation is enormous: IAPT has already shown how focusing on high-quality care and systematic measurement improves outcomes for patients and drives discovery. We’re calling for Government to build on this success, by learning from mental healthcare across the whole NHS, increasing the impact of excellent therapists, and reducing barriers for innovators. Digital solutions should be available nationally, and our understanding of the true costs of mental health must factor in the key role that mental health plays in underlying all aspects of health care and human flourishing.”
Clare Hurley, EVP Clinical, said: “If we truly want to improve lives, we must be bold, courageous and follow the data. We must extrapolate insights from the IAPT programme; building services that deliver effective treatments; measuring outcomes; creating capacity to treat more people. We know all too well of the huge workforce shortages in mental health and problems associated with long waiting times. Yet solutions are available and include: using data to super-power therapists, provide shorter, more effective sessions of treatment, and offering patients AI tools alongside therapy. This will boost capacity and efficacy, allowing more people to access vital treatment when and where they need it. By taking bold action now, we can help transform millions of real people’s lives”
