Real World Health’s partnership with North West London CAMHS Provider Collaborative reduces children’s hospital stays and achieves a 40% reduction in admissions.

The North West London CAMHS* Provider Collaborative, in partnership with Real World Health, announces remarkable improvements in child and young person service outcomes. This partnership, which began during the pandemic, has successfully leveraged data-driven insights to significantly improve patient outcomes and service efficacy.

Children and young people in North West London are now much less likely to be admitted to a mental health ward – instead most are now cared for outside of hospital – with only 5% of children presenting to CAMHS in crisis going on to be admitted to Tier 4 inpatient care.

Key achievements of the partnership include:

• A 40% admissions reduction on pre-pandemic levels, with ongoing admission-trend reduction.
• A 31% length of stay improvement in general adolescent wards despite reduced admission numbers, meaning only the most acutely unwell young people will be on a ward.
• An 18% reduction in crises requiring CAMHS intervention – the increase in presentations seen during the pandemic has been reversed, with the most recent yearly numbers now below pre-pandemic levels.

Mental health issues among children and adolescents have been a growing concern, with many young people facing prolonged inpatient stays and limited access to appropriate community-based care.

The partnership between the NWL CAMHS Provider Collaborative and Real World Health was initiated to address these challenges by using Real World Health’s Mental Health Data Science Platform. The solution equips providers with insights from patient and workforce data. By improving understanding of service user journeys, it helps to identify the flow and service design changes needed to improve access and design care pathways.

Richard Lyle, Head of Commissioning & Contracting West London NHS Trust/the NWL CAMHS Provider Collaborative, stated, “By consolidating the collaborative’s scattered data and presenting it in a unique and user-friendly fashion, we now have the tools at our fingertips needed to work with clinicians and system partners to put resources where they will have the biggest impact improve our young people’s experience of care and deliver bold but evidence based change.” 

“With Real World Health’s tools and wraparound support, we’ve become better informed about what works; enabling us to have more meaningful discussions with our commissioning ICB and local authority partners. Over time, this has fostered a culture of positive, informed decision-making and trust amongst the organisations in our collaborative. I look forward to continuing our work with Real World Health to enhance our understanding of our North West London pathways — including integrating more data from our non-NHS partners — ultimately improving outcomes for all.”

Scott Fletcher, CEO of Real World Health says: “We have demonstrated that our approach and ability to turn data into actionable insights works, providing significant, tangible benefits to our clients. Patients are experiencing better outcomes; children with mental health issues are in inpatient beds closer to home, their stays are shorter, and fewer are needing admission due to improved community treatment. And crucially, fewer are presenting at A&E. This success follows our positive work with Central North West London NHS Trust and West London Trust, both members of the CAMHS provider collaborative. We’re thrilled to see our partners embrace a data-driven culture, utilising their data and information to its fullest potential – and making a difference to the lives of people.”

Using Real World Health tools, the NWL CAMHS Provider Collaborative now plans to integrate non-NHS data into its platform to better evaluate and develop local mental health services. This is crucial for the THRIVE approach which seeks to promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in children and young people. A key aim will be enhancing both inpatient and community treatment, to cut long inpatient stays and improve transitions to community settings to allow more children and young people to recover in a home environment. Real World Health’s Data Science Platform will support day-to-day decision-making with advanced modelling tools and automated patient trend reports targeting key areas and helping to identify improvement strategies. These measures will ensure comprehensive care and timely interventions for children and young people, optimising resource use and improving overall treatment efficacy.

*CAHMS –  Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Featured Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash.