Developing a flourishing mHealth Habitat for the city of Leeds

Abstract

The mHealth Habitat programme aims to create an environment for digital innovation to flourish across mental health, learning disability and community services in the city of Leeds. Funding has been secured to test, deploy and evaluate digital tools in a range of clinical services. Our initiative has a distinct focus on mobile and web applications which support self-monitoring, selfmanagement and online peer support as well as online therapeutic interventions. Delivered in partnership with the University of Leeds, our programme aims to support bright ideas through to mature projects, stimulate the SME digital community and develop research in the field. Our habitat comprises the essential elements for digital innovation to flourish, from regular early evening ‘show and tell events’ aimed at building a community of interest, through to regular ‘hack days' aimed at stimulating new ideas, and a digital innovation pathway which takes initiatives from initial idea through to deployment and scale. We are supporting a range of varied initiatives that will enable us to develop learning that we can both share and scale where appropriate. They include a self-monitoring project with the Yorkshire Centre for Eating Disorders; a user-led digital design initiative with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; an SMS project with the Assertive Outreach team aimed at keeping in touch with people reluctant to engage with services they are compelled to use through Community Treatment Orders; a Digital Craft Cafe inclusion initiative in partnership with Leeds Mind; online peer support with the regional Chronic Fatigue Service; development of an online platform to access and edit care planning documentation; goal setting and self-monitoring in a Healthy Lifestyles Services; in addition to tailored support for clinicians keen to test out existing applications in the services they deliver. Our programme is closely aligned to the strategic objectives of our NHS Trust and aim to achieve outcomes for people accessing our services as well as increased efficiency and effectiveness for clinicians. The mHealth Habitat forms one strand of our Recovery programme which aims to embed a recovery-focused approach in all services through partnership working, social inclusion and empowering those who use our services. Our digital innovations aim to increase choice and flexibility for people using our services, and improve experience of using services alongside International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 14, 01 November – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-116535– http://www.ijic.org/ International Digital Health and Care Congress, The King’s Fund, London, September 10-12 2014. improved outcomes. We are measuring financial savings to our NHS Trust as a result of more effective use of clinical time and improved work flows. Our early findings indicate there is great enthusiasm for digital innovation amongst clinicians but they lack the time, space and knowledge to develop their ideas. The developer and designer community are keen to collaborate with the NHS but smaller organisations find NHS Trusts a minefield to work with. In addition, information governance and IT provide challenges that require close collaboration to find solutions. In conclusion, the mHealth Habitat is a challenging terrain but with the right nurturing there are big gains to be made for people accessing services, clinicians and NHS Trusts.