Multi-year innovation partnership agreed to enable accelerated access, starting with mental health and wellbeing

Press release

16th May 2023

Multi-year innovation partnership agreed to enable accelerated access, starting with mental health and wellbeing

The Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI) and Future Care Capital (FCC) have agreed a multi-year innovation partnership to encourage and nurture collaboration with developers of digital technologies, starting with a focus on the promotion of mental wellbeing and supporting those with mental health challenges.

In Scotland, a recent survey has shown that a fifth of those aged 16 years and over reported poor General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scores which is an indicator of potential mental health problems. There is also a prevalence of depression and anxiety in the population. To not tackle these issues could have serious negative consequences and would be a missed opportunity to build economies of wellbeing.

Despite the gloomy statistics, new and disruptive innovations are being developed – now is the time to accelerate their development, adoption, and scale them up as a means of ensuring the resilience of the population and future generations.

Both DHI and FCC have amassed significant knowledge and expertise in understanding how to support health and care providers and their service users to better understand what is possible in the future – moving forward with this transformational service change will put the individual and their family at the centre of the process. By giving them access to the tools and services they need to make informed choices about their health and wellbeing, to tell their stories only once and to activate services on their own terms, we will stand a much better chance of building a sustainable model of mental health and wellbeing services.

The collaboration will seek to promote third sector and local community resources as equal partners in the wider ecosystem, by surrounding an individual and their circle of care as a better way of serving their needs, to understand their lived experience and their personal aspirations. Specifically, over the next 12 months, we will: scout and identify innovative developers, start-ups and spinouts currently working on solutions for mental health and wellbeing; create a capacity building and programme of support to these companies through informational sessions to understand how they can sell their digital technologies into the NHS and social care providers; engage key decision-makers and opinion leaders to educate them on what is possible and catalyse action so that barriers to adoption can be addressed to enable rapid scale up; and undertake a gap analysis to inform future developmental needs and other changes that could speed up adoption and maximise impact.

Part of this work will be delivered via the Rural Centre of Excellence for digital health and care innovation, which is one of the first projects to be completed as part of a £5 Million capital investment from the UK Government, delivered through the Moray Growth Deal by the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre.

The Moray Growth Deal aims to stimulate sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Moray, and is a joint initiative supported by £100 million investment from the UK and Scottish governments, Moray Council, and partners from across the public and third sectors and private businesses.