The Covid-19 pandemic transformed the way that mental health care and services are delivered in London, with a rapid shift from face-to-face consultations to telephone and video appointments. A project involving King’s Improvement Science researchers evaluated the impact of these changes on service users and mental healthcare staff.
These changes had an impact on all the people involved in mental health care – from service users to clinicians and other mental health professionals. This project sought to understand the impact of these changes. The researchers examined:
- The positive and negative effects on staff and service users of the changes
- The effectiveness of remote consultations and areas where more evidence is needed
- How to embed or adapt new models of care to improve services in the future.
The project was led by the three south London NHS Mental Health Trusts working in conjunction with service users, local mental health services and academic partners, including the Health Innovation Network, and researchers at King’s Improvement Science.
How was KIS involved?
Professor Fiona Gaughran, King’s College London, led the project, working closely with Professor Nick Sevdalis and a wider leadership team. Researchers based at KIS and the Centre for Implementation Science contributed their expertise in implementation and improvement science.
This included:
- Advising on implementation and improvement science frameworks and methods
- Involving experts by experience to shape how the project engages service users and the public
- Designing and leading the analysis of an electronic survey exploring remote working
- Reviewing the research on remote working in mental health services before and during the pandemic. View pre-print here
The project evaluated the emerging evidence on remote consultations in mental health care, sharing best practice, including with other clinical areas and other regions in the country, to inform how services are delivered now and in the future.
Resources & research outputs
Research outputs and other resources are shared here and on the Health Innovation Network website.
- Patient Experience of Remote Consultations during the Covid-19 Pandemic, a report produced by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
- Staying Connected, a report produced by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Experience of Virtual Appointments/Meetings Survey Report, a report produced by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Evaluation of Attend Anywhere Video Consultation Platform, a report produced by South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
- Remote working in mental health services: a rapid umbrella review of pre-COVID-19 literature, a new pre-print paper published as part of the project
- Recording of our webinar on Remote Consultations in Mental Health – Learning from Evaluation held on Wednesday 2 December 2020 and a copy of the presentation.
- Read the paper: Remote consultations in mental health: collaborative evaluation applying learning health systems thinking (December 2024) BJ Psych Bulletin
Meet the project team
Professor Fiona Gaughran
Director of research and development at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the ARC’s applied informatics research lead.
