Severe Mental Illness


Using PKB to provide a digital recovery platform

Project Objectives


  1. Greater personalisation: more control over own health and more personalised care when needed.

  2. Recovery: facilitate recovery, ability to set recovery goals and monitor progress in achieving those goals.

  3. Physical health improvement: service users have access to physical health check data, information digitally, the ability to set physical health goals and monitor health improvement in one place.

  4. Increase access: access to self-management tool which will enable more service users to be reached the available resources.

Service user inspiration for using PKB


  1. Plans were written but I couldn't access them, even when requested.

  2. It feels like a one off assessment or tick box exercise.

  3. They felt like a lecture and continuous changes were not made.

  4. If there is one plan, everyone is aware of, you won't keep repeating yourself.

Key PKB Features

  • Integration from GP system EMIS for demographics, allergies, medications and diagnosis

  • Measurements and tests results

  • Mental health care plans that are sharable and editable to anyone involved in the service users care

  • HL7 integrated care plans

  • Library of resources

  • Journal for thoughts and feelings

  • Appointments added manually and through integration

  • Files a central place to add clinical letters and relevant information

National Context

21/22 community mental health transformation guidance for personalised care and support planning.

Personalised Care operating Model (NHS England LTP)

PKB Service User Pathway

Using PKB within a Typical Clinical Severe Mental Illness Pathway

The below diagram shows in more detail where data and information can come from and be added to the service users PKB record.

Information from NHS Providers

Information from Personal Health Budget Services

Sally's Story

She had multiple psychiatric admissions and is unable to work. She asked for her care plan to be laminated so she could carry it with her.

Andre's Story

Feedback from staff using PKB

  • I was worried that this was going to be a lot of extra work, but once I was shown how to use PKB, it's a lot easier than I thought it would be.

  • Patients have fed back to staff that they have found using PKB really helpful. This is nice feedback for staff to hear.

  • It has felt much more professional to introduce PKB to patients and let them know that all the support resources are in one place rather than giving them different website addresses and leaflets and expecting patients to remember them.

  • Having appointment information visible in PKB has been so helpful for my clients to check their appointments and saved me a lot of phone calls and reminding.

Recognition of Innovation Workstream HSJ Awards

Further information

  • The mental health digital playbook: how digital technology can help deliver service improvement and transformation

  • You can watch the video here for an overview (07.45 mins – 24.10 mins).