Digital health technologies to help manage symptoms of psychosis and prevent relapse in adults and young people: early value assessment

The companies should provide training for staff to support use of the technologies.

Practitioners and therapists need time for training and supervision, and to get a thorough understanding of the digital content. Supervision would include monitoring and responding to alerts, and escalating care if needed.

The technologies may not be suitable for everyone. For example, people without access to, or who cannot use, a smartphone or computer, or if paranoia or delusions are triggered or worsened by using digital technology. Also, digital technologies may be difficult to use if a person's psychosis symptoms worsen.

Evidence generation should be overseen by a steering group including researchers, commissioners, practitioners, and people with lived experience.

The evidence generation process is most likely to succeed with dedicated research staff to reduce the burden on NHS staff, and by using suitable real-world data to collect information when possible.

There is wide variation in standard care for people with psychosis in the NHS. Contributing sites and services should be chosen to maximise the comparability and generalisability of evidence generated, both in terms of the populations covered and the standard care delivered.

Careful planning of the approach to information governance is vital. Implementers should ensure that appropriate structures and policies are in place to ensure that the data is handled in a confidential and secure manner and to appropriate ethical and quality standards.