Using digital advice and guidance to improve access to expert physical health care in mental health services

Background/Aims Mental health clinicians who work with patients with comorbid mental and physical illnesses can find it challenging to access specialist physical health advice and guidance. This quality improvement project explored the use of a digital advice and guidance system in a mental health trust to improve access to physical health care for patients. Methods During the 1-year study period, a digital advice and guidance system was implemented and its use promoted to the staff at a mental health trust in England. Data were collected on the number of times the system was used and whether this had led to a potential referral to physical health services being carried out, avoided or cancelled. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics to observe changes in outcomes in each quarter of the study period. Results Use of the digital advice and guidance system increased from the first to third quarter of the year, with a total of 114 uses during the study period. In each quarter, over half of the system uses led to a referral to physical health services being avoided, with 80 referrals prevented in total. Conclusions Providing mental health trusts with access to advice and guidance from physical health colleagues through a digital platform can reduce avoidable referrals to acute general hospital services. This could improve patient care, while also reducing costs and risks associated with transfers between mental health and general hospitals. Implications for practice The learning from this project was used to expand the national e-referral system for England to include digital advice and referral functionality. This is now used in all inpatient wards at the mental health trust and could be accessed by other trusts across England to facilitate more efficiency sharing of key information and advice.