Shine Bright Mental Health Virtual Group Consultations
Pioneering large-scale, patient group consultations for 100+ patients: Reducing Workload and Widening Access in Primary Care
Led by Dr Tayo Kufeji, Newport Pagnell Medical Centre are pioneers of place-based care through the delivery of large-scale Mental Health Virtual Group Consultations to up to 100 patients, powered by ShinyMind, the award-winning digital wellbeing prescription and prescribing platform. Evaluation of the programme has found that these NHS co-designed group consultations are:
- reducing workload of GPs and freeing up their time to deal with more complex cases
- widening access for 100+ patients at a time
- boosting their team’s wellbeing and productivity
- achieving results comparable NHS Talking Therapies
- reducing patient demand
- delivering more with existing Access, Inequalities and QOF budgets
Over 90% of patients who came to the programme were eligible for NHS Talking therapies support and achieved a statistically significant 6.5 point decrease in GAD and a 3.9 point decrease in PHQ, comparable to the improvement achieved by NHS Talking Therapies.
Background
Following the successful delivery of a 1-hour interactive webinar on ‘Coping with Anxiety’ to patients living with anxiety, depression, and a long-term health condition, of which 136 registered to attend, NPMC then worked with ShinyMind to further expand and test the model of large-scale Mental Health Virtual Group Consultations by developing and delivering a 4-week virtual programme for 50+ patients. Patients were supported throughout the programme with access to ShinyMind, a digital wellbeing prescription, and received weekly behavioural nudges during and after the programme to improve their anxiety, mental health and physical health.
Over the last year we have been able to support our patients by offering them ShinyMind… In the Autumn of 2023, we were also able to offer our patients a mental health and wellbeing seminar, hosted by ShinyMind and delivered by lead psychotherapist, Bec Howard. This was an excellent webinar with lots of positive feedback and hopefully we can continue this in 2024. We have also started to embark on a group consultation model to further support patients with their mental wellbeing. – Dr Tayo Kufeji, GP, Newport Pagnell Medical Centre
Virtual group therapy can foster a sense of community and shared experience, providing sustainable peer support to a wider range of participants. There is strong evidence that virtual group therapy is as effective as one-to-one face-to-face therapy.
There is also evidence that momentary interventions (mobile and app based) and integrating motivational interviewing into therapy can further improve functioning and reduce symptoms, potentially being more impactive that traditional therapy for certain individuals.
With group therapy making up at most 5% of treatment, there is significant opportunity to support to more people than traditional therapy with virtual group and app-based support. Â
How Will The Programme Be Delivered?
Based on the psychology of identity, promoting enhanced self-awareness and developing a greater level of self-efficacy, the programme will allow patients to explore, discover and grow by understanding themselves better, improve their choices, reduce anxiety and improve their mental and physical health. The practice team are also able to attend and benefit from the programme and the sessions also signpost to existing PCN and practice services.
100 patients – 1200hrs GP Contact timeÂ
| 4 sessions (2 hours each) | Topics |
|---|---|
| Session 1 | Getting to know me – helping you to understand your thoughts, feelings and behaviours |
| Session 2 | Building personal resilience – helping you to reduce stress, improve anxiety and take back control |
| Session 3 | My Relationships – developing self-awareness personal resilience, choice and responsibility in your relationships with others and yourself. |
| Session 4 | Empowerment – helping you to feel more confident and assertive to improve your mental health |
| Weekly Behavioural and Relationship Building Nudging across the programme | Pre and post self-development and awareness work on ShinyMind Wellbeing prescription further embeds patient growth and transformational development to empower and stimulate self-efficacy, boost confidence and assertiveness. 20 minutes per week on ShinyMind Wellbeing prescription  Leveraging the power of the Care Giver to improve patient mental health, build trust and to develop positive behavioural habits. 5 minutes per week on ShinyMind Wellbeing prescription |
Shine Bright Mental Health Virtual Group Consultations is powered by the ShinyMind Wellbeing Prescription
Shine Bright Mental Health Virtual Group Consultations is powered by the ShinyMind Wellbeing Prescription, which will give participating practices access to ShinyMind’s dedicated prescribing platform and all three LifePacks on Coping with Anxiety, Mental Wellness (for low mood and depression) and Menopause. Each practice will receive 200 ShinyMind annual wellbeing prescriptions to support and prescribe to their patients at a population health level, reduce demand and promote better health outcomes.
- Prescribed to support patients with mental health, anxiety and long-term conditions
- 86% felt their wellbeing prescription made them feel better
- 91% would like to keep their wellbeing prescription
- 94% felt others would benefit from a wellbeing prescription
- A reduction of 2.5 to 3.5 GP contacts per patient per year
- 26% reduction in number of patients affected by moderate to severe anxiety
- 30% reduction in number of patients affected by moderate to severe depression
| If you are interested in implementing this programme across your organisation/system, please complete the form linked below; |
| Possible funding sources: o Impact and Investment Fund o Practice funding for Modernising GP Access o Health Inequalities funding (if eligible) |