Startup Thalamos is digitising the Mental Health Act (MHA). Their reactive web application allows clinicians to complete MHA paperwork digitally, across any device, in any location.

Changes due to Covid-19

With increased pressure on mental health services as a result of Covid-19, Thalamos is responding to new emergency Mental Health Act legislation, by accelerating new features and functions of their mobile application for social workers and doctors.

The temporary emergency legislation means that one doctor, rather than two, can sign off a Mental Health Act assessment. These measures have been introduced because the government is concerned that Covid-19 will reduce the number of mental health professionals available to help people whose mental health places them at risk.

How we are responding:

The Mindwave team, as Thalamos’ tech partner, are working flat out to accelerate development of new features for the application in response to these changes. These features include new forms and new log-in profiles, designed to support all practitioners involved with the Mental Health Act.

These new features will not only support mental health practitioners to undertake their work more efficiently, they will also afford a degree of social distancing, insofar as digital notes can be transferred safely to the hospital, rather than by the practitioner having to deliver them in person. By making these changes, we hope to decrease the pressure on services and make life easier for doctors and social workers.

You can find out more about Thalamos here 

Working with Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership  (C&M) Mindwave is designing and developing a digital front door for the region's 2.6 million residents to access seamless support across acute, physical, mental, community and social care.

Changes due to Covid-19

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, C&M asked the Mindwave team to pivot our focus, and create an open access website where residents and NHS staff can access trusted resources to help them with their mental health and wellbeing during this challenging period.

How we are responding

The platform we created provides two core services and we will further develop it in response to changing public health guidance, NHS staff and citizen needs. The initial core offer is access to online therapy via Silvercloud with a suite of therapies clinically evaluated to support people; these will include help sleep, stress and anxiety. The website also includes access to clinically evaluated apps and digital resources to support people during this time via ORCHA.

From 31 March we will be delivering weekly software releases whereby we introduce new features and functionality to help C&M residents and NHS staff. You can find the website here.

SURE is a native iOS & Android app that contains the SURE (Substance Use Recovery Evaluator) and SUSS (Substance Use Sleep Scale) measures, which allow people who are using substances and alcohol, to track their recovery and monitor progress across key areas of wellbeing and quality of life. Everything in the app is free and individuals can use it to track their recovery and achieve personal goals.

Changes due to Covid-19 and how we are responding:

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mindwave is creating a new feature which enables people to access information about the virus and share their experiences of being in recovery during this time. With the right consents, the researchers along with Public Health England, are keen to learn about people’s experiences over this period.

SURE has been jointly designed and developed by people with lived experience of drug and alcohol problems, researchers and clinicians from King’s College London, and Mindwave Ventures. It focuses on what is important to people in recovery. 

 You can find out more about Sure here.

We took quick action and all our staff are working remotely. As a digital company, we are used to using tools such as Slack and Hangouts to collaborate with each other, so that we can continue as usual with minimum disruption. At Mindwave, as a close-knit community, we support and regularly check-in with each other.