NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership has announced the intention to award a £2 million contract to Healois, an online provider of specialist child and young person’s mental health services.

The body is to award the contract for CAMHS clinical assessments and interventions via the company’s digital platform, to help increase capacity in the short term and improve access to services.

Funding has been made available to support the digital service up to 31 March 2022, with an extension to be reviewed. The health board said in the contract notice it required a digital platform for referrals to be easily shared, to provide service user monitoring metrics and allow for clinical session information to be shared to the health board electronic patient record.

Healios will provide services seven-days a week, 8am – 9pm, processing referrals within seven days of receipt. The requirements also included the ability to “deliver mental health assessments in line with the Mental Health Measure (2010) across primary mental health and specialist CAMHS services”.

The notice highlighted: “Healios are fully aware of the service operating model and have successfully mirrored that in their delivery of services to our patient group. Similarly, they have a working knowledge of all our policies and procedures, including demonstrating strong adherence and collaborative working in regard to safeguarding procedures. Based on the information outlined in this notice, the health board is applying a 10 day standstill period prior to awarding the contract.”

The contact also required the software tool to provide the “ability to produce real time performance reports such as number of interventions completed, safeguarding or risk incidence, achievement of outcomes” and to “mirror core services in the management of DNAs and communication of these”.

In related news on the topic, HTN recently reported on Dorset CAMHS offering a new online approach to tackle teenage depression and an all-in-one mental health app launched at Alder Hey Children’s NHS FT.