The HSE Shares Compelling Mental Health Data as Over 12,300 Users Avail of SilverCloud by Amwell Digital Programmes

The Health Service Executive (HSE) shared a new report highlighting a key milestone in the technology partnership with SilverCloud® by Amwell®; more than 12,300 people have used the SilverCloud platform’s guided digital Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (iCBT) programmes, as of August 2023. The partnership forms a part of the HSE’s Sharing The Vision national mental health policy.

Growing demand for mental health support in Ireland has led to long waiting lists2, with clinicians across the country under high pressure to meet increased need with limited resources. To improve access to evidence-based mental health supports, alleviate wait lists, and reduce the strain on Ireland’s clinicians, the HSE provided the clinically proven SilverCloud platform’s guided iCBT programmes across the country. Through dedicated funding from the HSE, the programmes are available for clinicians to refer to and provide, at no cost, to their patient communities across Ireland.

The report, which follows November’s research report3 on the first 5,000 users to utilise the programmes, details the continued progress of the HSE partnership, and outlines the encouraging clinical success, uptake and effectiveness of the platform including:

·       49% of users with clinical levels of depression showed clinically meaningful improvement and 59% of users with clinical levels of anxiety showed clinically meaningful improvement.

·       Active use of the SilverCloud platform in Ireland has grown exponentially since November 2022, with an 85% increase in people utilising the SilverCloud iCBT programmes in 10 months. The average time users spend on the platform has also increased by almost 10% in this period.

·       Since the start of partnership, the platform has seen more than 21,344 referrals from Ireland-based GPs, Primary Care Psychologists, and Counselling in Primary Care and Jigsaw– demonstrating clinicians value the solution support on their patients.

·       The platform continues to see a high user satisfaction rate at 94%

A peer-reviewed evaluation of this national digital CBT service has also recently been published in the International Journal of Mental Health Systems, further attesting to the robust evidence-base underpinning the service (https://ijmhs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13033-023-00592-9).

Two HSE leaders share remarks on the success of the program:

Derek Chambers, Acting Asst. National Director, Mental Health Operation, HSE, commented

“Initially when we worked with the SilverCloud platform, we looked at it from the perspective of self-help. However, the real turning point for the HSE and SilverCloud technology partnership was when we went to a guided digital CBT approach where the client is brought through the digital CBT programmes by a trained clinical supporter. We have now reached well over 10,000 users and we have seen strong patient outcomes with this intervention with 59% of patients seeing reliable rates of recovery for anxiety or depression. In line with our mental health policy, Sharing the Vision, we will continue to develop initiatives with clinical oversight that are accessible and effective.”

Dr. Aoife O’ Sullivan, ICGP HSE Primary Care Lead Mental Health, added:

“We know that there has been a huge rise in the number of people presenting with anxiety and depression in the last number of years. This has put huge pressure on GP’s and mental health services. It is very difficult to provide one-to-one counselling for all those that need it, which has led to long waitlists for some people to access care. One way to address this is to use an evidence-based digital mental health intervention like SilverCloud by Amwell for patients with mild to moderate symptoms. This means that those patients can get support immediately, regardless of what part of the country they are living in. Their GP can refer them in, and they can access guided iCBT programmes for support.

The SilverCloud iCBT programmes have been designed by experts and are backed by 20 years of research. Amwell aims to provide a solution within a clinician’s care plan for a patient, whether to provide support while on a waiting list, for use during therapy sessions, or to help maintain recovery post-therapy. The programmes can also be utilised as preventative tools, enabling clinicians to identify when a patient might benefit from the SilverCloud iCBT programmes before they present with symptoms of anxiety (e.g., upcoming exams, surgery or an anxiety prompting life event).

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