Mental Health Crisis Lines upgrade access for patients and safeguards clinicians

Mersey Care’s renowned mental health crisis help lines have been upgraded with improved technology to help more patients at a quicker rate and allow clinicians to improve care with informed analytics.

Originally due to be introduced in 2021, the service was launched ahead of schedule in 2020 to help services during the COVID-19 pandemic with half a million more people supported at a time of crisis since the service became operational.

Following the introduction of a telephony system with enhanced capabilities, the crisis lines can handle more calls at a quicker rate than ever before. The system’s capabilities not only measure access and waiting times, it also uses sophisticated technology to produce information to support clinicians to improve care, including live dashboards, analytics and transcription technology.

“Mersey Care aimed to develop a 24/7 urgent mental health crisis helpline as part of its 'striving for perfect care' strategy, aligned with the NHS Long Term Plan,” explained Lynn Hughes, Mersey Care’s Deputy Divisional Director for Urgent Care.

“We accelerated the launch to address rising mental health concerns as the existing systems in place couldn't meet urgent response times. A more resilient, multichannel platform with generative Al was needed to reduce risk and enhance user experience.”

The new system was developed in partnership between Mersey Care, NHS Informatics Merseyside, ITGL and Calabrio who analysed over 1,000 calls in the developmental stages to provide real time insights. The system enables faster response times, improved care and safeguards clinician wellbeing so they can maintain high standards of care.

Stephen Appleton, Chief Digital Information Officer at Mersey Care and Managing Director of NHS Informatics Merseyside, said, “The upgrade of Mersey Care's mental health crisis help line is a significant step forward in our commitment to providing timely and effective support to those in need.

“By leveraging advanced technology, we’re not only improving access and response times but also enhancing the quality of care through informed analytics. Additionally, this marks our first step into the deployment of ambient voice technology, something we’re really excited about and has huge potential to reduce the administrative burden across our workforce."

The enhanced technology allows the system to prioritise and routes phone calls to a crisis line based on the perceived needs of the caller, ensuring critical cases reach appropriately trained clinicians in a timely way. A review shows that since its launch, demand for the line has grown from 2,000 to 9,000 calls per month and live dashboards provide real time demand oversight, ensuring timely clinical escalations.

Safeguarding of staff has also visibly improved since the introduction of Calabrio’s analytics which automates summaries, reducing after call work which increases workforce capacity. Dashboards identify burnout risks, improving clinician support and retention, while also saving time and resources. Analytics and call recording enhance team learning and supervision.