The MPFT CHAAT-P Innovation Programme
Overview
Working as part of the wider Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) CHAAT-P programme (Call Handling Automation and Transformation Programme), the West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Innovation Network WMHWIN, have delivered an innovation programme that identified solutions to address pressures on mental health access, call handling and administrative processes. The programme explored how artificial intelligence automation and smart telephony could be applied safely and effectively to improve patient access, reduce staff burden, and create a scalable model for future mental health services.
The programme used WMHWIN demand led innovation method that focused on clearly articulating the problems facing services and then working collaboratively with a small group of carefully selected innovators to develop solutions grounded in real operational need.
The Challenge
Mental health services at MPFT experience common NHS pressures such as:
- Rising demand for services and fragmented access routes for patients’ carers.
- High call volumes across multiple teams and systems, placing strain on administrative staff.
- Manual, repetitive, and data intensive processes, often requiring staff to duplicate information across disconnected systems.
- Limited real time visibility of demand risk and workload, making it difficult to prioritise effectively.
These challenges cause delays in access, variation in experience, and administrative fatigue. From the outset, MPFT recognised that a solution needs to address both patient facing access and underlying back-office processes simultaneously.
A Demand-Led Innovation Approach
The programme followed WMHWIN’s innovation framework, combining structured discovery and stakeholder involvement throughout. Clinical, operational and leadership colleagues came together to describe current state processes, explore pain points and agree a set of shared problem statements that could be used to guide market engagement.
WMHWIN then undertook a scouting exercise, identifying solution providers whose capabilities aligned with the challenge brief. This became a key focus of the programme as MPFT have a mature user centered design capability which was utilised as a foundation to scout, screen and assess vendor capability.
Designing for Real Users
A defining feature of the CHAAT-P programme was its use of clearly defined automation focused personas. These personas reflected the reality of key user groups, including call handlers, referral coordinators, clinical team leads and patients or carers contacting services. Innovators were asked to demonstrate how their solutions would work in practice for each group, showing how automation could reduce friction, improve safety, and enhance experience without removing appropriate human oversight. A strong emphasis was placed on clinical safety information governance and trust. Innovators were expected to demonstrate a clear understanding of NHS assurance requirements, including data security auditability and risk management.
Outcomes and Looking Ahead
Although CHAAT-P was not designed as a procurement exercise, it has created a shared understanding across teams of current challenges and future opportunities and could lead to future procurement opportunities. Two suppliers have been selected to take part in further investigation, with the trust and innovators are now well positioned to progress these concepts through structured pilot phases supported by clear evaluation criteria. Ultimately, new technologies that enhance patient experience while supporting staff to manage increased workloads are being developed, with the aim of getting them into frontline service as soon as possible.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your team for all the support you’ve provided over the past 12 months. Your involvement has truly been instrumental in helping us reach this stage, and I appreciate the dedication and collaboration. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress and share any successes we achieve as things move forward.” Upkar Jheeta, Head of Mental Health Transformation, MPFT.
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