Innovating Mental Health Services in Scotland Open Innovation Challenge Results

By Samantha Smith March 2, 2023

Vision: Delivering person-centred and equitable Mental Health support and services for people in Scotland.

Background

The Scottish Health Industry Partnership (SHIP), part of the Scottish government Chief Scientist Office, and the Scottish Government Mental Health and Wellbeing Directorate are investing £750,000 including VAT, in a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) focused on innovating mental health services in Scotland.

The competition provides an opportunity for companies, working in partnership with NHS Scotland regional test beds to develop disruptive innovative solutions that address:

  • Young persons challenge
  • Hard to reach populations (people with existing mental health conditions and/or people with a co-occurring condition e.g. sensory loss, alcohol, or substance issues)
  • Patient centred care pathways
  • Treatment resistant conditions
  • Prioritisation of backlog

The aim of this competition is to develop disruptive innovative solutions that address:

Challenge A – Supporting people who are not currently receiving treatment and addressing the backlog of patients on waiting lists. 

Challenge B – Delivering person-centred and equitable Mental Health support and services to people who are currently receiving treatment by optimising clinical and social care pathways. 

The challenge was launched in 2022 and attracted a high number of excellent applications. Five companies have been awarded contracts to take forward their Phase 1 projects.

HISES are thrilled to be the host test bed taking on this national challenge on behalf of SHIP.

This month HISES, as part of the national Mental Health SBRI challenge, has started working in partnership with two companies to develop innovative solutions to address one of the current challenges; profound mismatch between supply and demand and, a lack of any systematic way to measure person-centred outcomes. This is in line with the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 vision where people can get the right help at the right time, expect recovery, and fully enjoy their rights, free from discrimination and stigma. We are pleased to announce that the two companies working with HISES in Phase 1 are Wysa Ltd and Sentireal.