Representatives from Holmusk recently attended the Royal College of Nursing International Nursing Research Conference to present findings from an evaluation of the implementation of MaST, a clinical decision support tool that is designed to improve mental health caseload management by helping to identify those people at the highest risk of mental health crisis. 

MaST, or Management and Supervision Tool, is being implemented at seven NHS Trusts within the United Kingdom. MaST uses a predictive Risk of Crisis algorithm to help clinicians make informed decisions about the allocation of resources for the most vulnerable people. Recently, the Midlands and Lancashire CSU Health Economics Unit led an evaluation of MaST’s implementation at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust as part of a wider NHS Trust transformation programme.

This analysis compared admissions to inpatient services versus admissions to community services for a period of six months before and six months after MaST was implemented. The study found that more cases could be handled in the community setting rather than requiring an inpatient setting.

 The length of mental health crises and hospital stays also decreased after the use of MaST began. All of these changes, especially the shift from the hospital to the community setting, resulted in a cost savings of an estimated £1.7 million in the six months after MaST was implemented.

 “It is exciting to see that when MaST is implemented as part of Community Mental Health Transformation, it is associated with improved outcomes and efficiency gains, both of which are critical as the NHS mental health services work toward more personalised services delivered closer to home,” said Caroline Gadd, Holmusk's UK Managing Director. “We look forward to future studies that can help to demonstrate the longer-term impact MaST is having on quality and safety of care.”

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