Digital front door technologies to gather service user information for NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression assessments: early value assessment

The referral pathway for mental health conditions is extremely varied in current practice. Details describing the referral pathway should be reported for future evidence generation. This will enable a better understanding of how generalisable results are.

It is important to minimise any selection bias that may occur, for example, older people or people with more severe symptoms going through the in-person referral routes. For this reason, people with more severe symptoms may need additional assistance to navigate the technology.

The technologies may offer more value to services where digital pre-assessment methods are not already in use, for example, where the pre-assessment is carried out by administrative staff.

The technologies may need to be integrated into or linked to any existing digital infrastructure.

The technologies may improve accessibility to mental health services for people who are underserved, for example, people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The technologies may not be suitable for everyone, for example, people without access to, or who cannot use, a smartphone or computer. People with cognitive impairment, problems with manual dexterity or a learning disability may need additional help from carers or advocates.

The digital technologies could be more beneficial if they are set up to ensure that the language and cultural considerations of the users are met, and the digital literacy of people using them is considered.