The Blog: 5 August 2024

As many of you will know, research and innovation in mental health has long been an aspiration for both Mersey Care and for myself. It seems only fitting, therefore, that one of my final blogs as Chief Executive Officer should focus on innovation and the significant progress that is being made in mental health research at Mersey Care, nationally and internationally.

The research and development of mental health treatments are challenging. This is due to the diverse nature of patients, the difficulty in generalising results, the absence of standardised assessment and diagnosis methods, and the uncertainty of effective therapeutic targets and outcomes.

However, significant progress in science, such as gene and protein studies, brain scans and computer based patient profiling (digital twins or avatars) mean we have access to tools that help us understand diseases & diagnose conditions based on more than just observed behaviour. At the same time, precision based medicines (for example, medicines that are tailored to specific types of diseases) are being developed which support more effective targeted interventions for patients.

These advances allow treatments to be developed based on clear quality measures.  This means we can ensure that resources are used in the most effective way for our patients and communities and in the longer term allows us to move from a diagnose and treat model to a predict and prevent approach.

Opportunities for patients to take part in research and support their recovery is of course at the heart of what drives our wider innovation ambition. I'm delighted to see how our Mersey Care family has embraced the research and innovation agenda -  we currently have 23 active clinical research trials for patients and a further four trials in set up phase. These span across mental health, primary care, respiratory and infection areas. 

Our patients are at the heart of research and in September 2023, the Board of Directors at Mersey Care approved the "Count Me In" (CMI) initiative, aimed at fostering inclusivity and equity in research conducted within the Trust. This initiative is crucial, as research activities within clinical services can substantially enhance the quality of patient care and improve staff experiences, which are vital for job satisfaction and retention. The CMI model, adopted from Oxford Health NHS FT, shows promising preliminary findings.

Pictured above: Service users and staff from the first 'Count Me In' workshop in June 2024.

Currently, our research participant recruitment relies heavily on clinicians, with some patients, service users, and carers self-referring. Given the current strains on NHS services and the significant gaps in our understanding of mental health care delivery, expecting clinicians to handle recruitment for the extensive research required is unsustainable. Clinician-led recruitment often results in unequal access to research opportunities, particularly affecting underserved groups such as older adults, minoritised ethnic communities, and individuals with mental health difficulties.

The CMI service will augment the existing clinician-led recruitment. It aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan by promoting inclusive research recruitment, enhancing mental health services, integrating care models, and advancing health and prevention initiatives. This approach will utilise a Research Informatics search to identify individuals affected by various mental health conditions, offering them information about relevant research opportunities unless they opt out.

Over the past 10 months, Dr Oladayo Bifarin and the CMI team have been conceptualising the service for Mersey Care. This process involved extensive engagement with service-user leads, NHS Informatics Merseyside, communications experts, equality, diversity, and inclusion specialists, clinicians, patients, and the public. Between February and April 2024, the team consulted over 100 clinicians, patients, and members of the public to gather their input on developing CMI service and co-produced plans with selected individuals.

As we come around full circle, the CMI team is preparing for a soft launch at our Trust’s Annual General Meeting in September 2024. Meanwhile, they are meticulously defining processes and promoting what CMI means for our services and our community of patients, service users and their carers.  Learn more about CMI here.

The time is right to embrace these opportunities to enable better interventions, better access and better outcomes for our patient populations here at Mersey Care. I'm extremely proud of the research, innovation and service evaluations that our staff undertake every single day in every single service area, to improve the quality of care and offer hope to our patients and their families.

I've stated an ambition for every patient in Mersey Care to have the opportunity to access an appropriate clinical trial.  Thanks to your continued support and commitment, I genuinely believe this will be achieved.

Prof Joe Rafferty CBE

Chief Executive Officer

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust