New NHS app helps people with depression and other mental health illnesses by educating them about electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) treatment.
The app was developed by Leicestershire Health Informatics Service (LHIS), Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and CommonTime.
The ECT tool is the first mobile app to provide information on ECT and also allows patients to access key contact information for specialists, according to CommonTime.
Negative perceptions of ECT that relate to treatments from the 1950s are still common, CommonTime said, partly because patients who are offered ECT treatment have been faced with an overload of information in leaflets and from across the internet, with much of this information lacking validity.
Girish Kunigiri, consultant psychiatrist at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and project clinical lead, said: “Electro-convulsive therapy can be life-saving for patients suffering from severe psychiatric conditions. But despite high success rates in helping patients, stigma still exists.
“The ECT app is the first of its kind in psychiatry and an exemplary use of modern technology to educate patients and clinicians and to break stigma in mental health.
“For patients and their families, the app describes the whole ECT procedure from preparation to recovery, allowing people to make informed decisions in the consent process.
“GPs, support workers and other non-psychiatry specialists too can also better understand what this life-saving treatment really means for patients.”
The new app provides information from the trust’s ECT centre of excellence, along with real patient stories and high impact videos that feature clinicians and patients and which give detailed guidance on modern procedures.
The mobile tool is expected to directly help thousands of patients and their families and has also been designed as a highly effective training tool for healthcare professionals, according to CommonTime.
Patients and non-psychiatry specialists alike can also access advice from ECT specialists, with contact information presented through the app.
Developed by clinicians and technologists in partnership with patients, the app was launched at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has since received national recognition as a finalist in the Patient Experience Network National Awards.
Even though the app was developed in Leicestershire, it can be used by patients across the UK and has a global reception, with downloads reported from Australia and the US, according to CommonTime.
Sarah Ost, service delivery manager, at the LHIS, said: “This project signals a very important move in the way the NHS develops IT capabilities.
“Through our partnership with CommonTime, we have developed a ground-breaking app of relevance to clinical challenges across the NHS and beyond.”
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