Recognising the importance of patient empowerment and informed decision-making, Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) took a proactive approach by becoming an early adopter of the Professional Record Standards Body's (PRSB) Mental Health care plans standards for: Personalised Care and Support Plan (PCSP); Overcoming Challenging Times; and About Me. This forward-thinking move ensured that MPFT would be at the forefront of providing secure, accurate, and accessible healthcare information for authorised personnel, as mandated by the PRSB. To achieve PRSB compliance for these care plan areas, and enhance patient-centred care in mental health, MPFT embarked on a transformative journey with Patients Know Best (PKB) working with Adult Mental Health Services  (AMHS).

This case study explores how MPFT's Adult Mental Health Services successfully leveraged PKB to not only achieve compliance with the PRSB standards for the Trust, but also foster collaborative workflows for both professionals and service users.

Prior to PKB, the About Me, Overcoming Challenging Times, Care and Support Plan, Reqol-10 and DIALOG care plans and questionnaires, essential for creating compliant and individualised care plans (as outlined by the PRSB standard), were inconsistently recorded on a “need-to” basis. Reliance on paper-based questionnaires completed during appointments and later scanned into the clinical system created administrative burdens and data quality issues (such as missing data, and illegibility). These inconsistencies led to variations in care plans and hampered compliance with the PRSB standards. Clinicians in AMHS lacked easy access to this crucial information within the clinical system, hampering collaboration and creating disjointed patient care. From the service users' perspective, the process lacked transparency and resulted in delays in accessing their care plans, hindering their ability to be active participants in their care. Informal feedback revealed that care plans lacked clarity for service users, and seemed geared towards healthcare professionals.

To achieve PRSB compliance, optimise care delivery, enable collaboration, and care plan consistency, MPFT implemented PKB as part of their Trust-wide Digital Transformation initiative. Completed in 6 months, this project focused on developing a fully automated pathway for AMHS.

Service users can now electronically complete the required questionnaires and gain immediate access to available information in their health records, fulfilling a key Trust objective. Thanks to the extensive integration of PKB with the NHS App, service users can also conveniently access their health information and complete the assigned questionnaires through the NHS App (with PKB being the only provider that currently integrates mental health providers into the NHS App). The co-designed workflow ensures service users are automatically added to the clinical teams based on key triggers, such as referrals, and can complete tailored questionnaires such as About Me or PROMs within PKB.  This information is then securely transferred via FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) APIs to populate their clinical system (Rio). Professionals can access this data to build personalised care plans based on the latest responses, fostering a truly collaborative approach. These care plans are then automatically uploaded from Rio for the service user to access in the PKB record. This seamless data flow streamlines workflows, reduces administrative burdens, and empowers patients to actively participate in their care journeys.

Early feedback highlights improved workflow efficiency and clinician satisfaction due to the seamless integration with Rio. Some of the staff members have emphasised that "Care plans informed by PROMs” were a significant benefit,  while another added that it leads to "More meaningful and relevant care planning”.

Moreover, staff have expressed the impact on patient empowerment saying that the new process “Allows patients to take ownership of their care" and that "Patients being able to see their care plans […] helps with collaboration and effectiveness " as well as that  "Patients that are using it find it very helpful in accessing their information/support."

The staff survey also underscored the need for improved promotion of the service for both staff and patients to increase the understanding of the available functionalities.The teams will work collaboratively on producing extra support materials and communications. By doing so, MPFT and PKB can continue to provide a valuable tool for improving patient care and outcomes.

Phase one of the PKB integration at MPFT has yielded significant benefits for service users, staff, and overall care delivery:

“We are applying our learnings from service users and staff feedback to ensure we improve the future rollout and drive more engagement. Building on the successful model we've established in phase one, and the great work of AMHS, the Trust is expanding the rollout of the platform to additional clinical teams. This will mean we can improve service delivery across a wider patient population including community services