NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens has announced that South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) will be London’s ‘Global Digital Exemplar’.

In government plans setting out next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View, the Trust is one of seven organisations cited as amongst the most advanced IT hospitals in the NHS.

As a global digital exemplar, the Trust will exploit the potential of digital technology to ensure care is more personalised and responsive to patient need, by providing seamless integration across the entire local health and care community.

SLaM and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London jointly lead the Centre for Translational Informatics (CTI).  The funding award further strengthens SLaM’s position as one of the leading locations for digital mental health research in the UK.

Welcoming the announcement, SLaM Chief Executive Dr Matthew Patrick said:

“We are delighted to be part of the global digital exemplar programme – this designation will come with funding that will help us accelerate the work we are already doing to ensure that our frontline staff can maximise their use of digital technology to improve clinical services for patients, resulting in better patient experience, better outcomes and efficiency savings.

“Moving from paper to digital technology, and the use of mobile devices and new platforms such as our e-Observation programme and mobile clinical app, means our staff are more mobile with clinical record information at their fingertips to share with patients and other health staff in a fraction of the time they used to. Patients and carers will have the ability to self-manage conditions with online access to health records, resources and care plans using our new personal health record platform.

“Everything we do is to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve. As a global digital exemplar we will continue to extend the use of digital technology across all our care pathways. By working collaboratively across the health system, we are looking forward to playing our part in ensuring the NHS becomes the world’s leading provider of digitally-enabled mental health care.”