The Project

Project ANiMATE is a two year project (one year trial) for people in the North Lincolnshire area to get on-line access to an NHS poiesis clinician. It aims to demonstrate the following two principals:

Telemedicine : The provision of mental health therapy on-line, by phone and email
Homeshoring: The ability for clinicians to provide care without being bound to the work environment

The project is funded by a combination of stakeholders – namely British Telecommunications (Corporate Social Responsibility), Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (RDASH), the strategic health authority for Yorkshire & The Humber and the City of London Digital Inclusion Team.

The project includes independent evaluation, carried out by the University of Sheffield Centre for Psychological Services Research (CPSR)Current Government strategy on health, work and well-being includes a commitment to improve access to and choice of effective psychological therapies for people with common mental health problems.

This policy is currently being implemented through a substantial recurrent investment (£170m) in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) initiative. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is used in IAPT sites in providing computerised cognitive behaviour therapy as recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and in supporting case managers providing low-intensity interventions (e.g. guided self-help via telephone).

Although it is known that conventional delivery of psychological therapies is inequitable (for example, they are less accessible or acceptable to young males, people with agoraphobia or rural residents) the NHS has previously been light on deploying solutions. However, this project will open-up access to therapy and directly target those traditionally hard-to-reach groups.

BT provide the underpinning technology. This has already been road tested for private sector counselling systems.

RDASH will test out the system, trialling it for around 12 months.

Independent experts from the University of Sheffield are involved in evaluation to ensure outcomes above are tested and write the evaluation report
Future scope

There is interest in testing other markets for eClinics, namely:

PCTs – to improve efficiency/ effectiveness of service delivery, and to extend reach/ hours of operation
Businesses – to offer support to staff and reduce sick leave
Universities – for early intervention, some mental health issues start at university
Local Authorities – to offer support to staff and reduce sick leave

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