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FCC’s Mental Health Exemplar

6th July 2022 about a 3 minute read

Future Care Capital is a charity working towards a future where our health and care system is recognised for excellence in meeting the needs of our evolving society. We conduct research and design approaches to advance and shape this future. We are a facilitator of change, and as an established expert organisation on data, technology, and innovation, our focus is on value creation for all through the practical acceleration of these fields. 

Mental health in the UK is at a point of crisis, largely contributed to by the pandemic, as well as successive years of poor funding of services and intervention. The mental well-being of our health and care workforces and the general population is vitally important, as well as it having an impact on the wider economy. 

Mental healthcare can be thought of as a spectrum, with wellbeing (prevention or mild disease) and mental health intervention (severe disease) at opposite ends. Digital solutions exist along this spectrum and many aim to improve access to mental health services and reduce system burden. However, in an emergent sector assessing quality and making commissioning decisions are complex​. 

The mental health tech ecosystem and onward clear paths to adoption need clarity. Evidence, regulation and a trusted means of adoption, on an individual and commissioning level are often lacking for digital mental health. Many developers are well-intentioned, and users have a clear need for flexible access to mental health tools as additional support alongside clinical care. The current market is a heterogeneous mix of clinical, non-clinical, care and lifestyle products with a variable evidence base. 

We are developing a commissioning tool to aid decision-making, to enable and accelerate the adoption and implementation of digital solutions for mental health care. This tool will simplify the decision-making process with a clear description of the commissioning flow, highlighting key decisions and requirements for solutions that address unmet mental health commissioning needs. The tool is aimed at helping commissioners, regulators, users and providers to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of technology being adopted across mental health. This will result in greater access to better products providing better outcomes for users, and a transition to a safer, more effective ecosystem of digital mental health solutions which users can rely on. 

FCC has mapped the innovators developing technology for mental health care and is identifying key opportunities in this space. By bringing together patients, providers and payers, we will accelerate the adoption of solutions and enhance outcomes for patients. 

We are working with trusted experts with proven track records to help shape the tool and apply it, resulting in greater access to evidence-based mental health tech and producing measurably improved outcomes for people. By creating replicable and scalable tools, we can help support the commissioning and adoption of digital solutions across other areas of unmet need. 

We will be publishing related content over the coming weeks and months to further outline the progress we are making and which partners are involved to help us bring this to life. Follow us on our journey by signing up for our newsletter and following us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Are you a tech developer working on this problem? If so, get in touch and tell us more here.