Businesses

Background

Increased levels of mental illness is a growing problem in the UK and across the world. In 2010, Sidekick Ventures set out to explore how digital technology could help people recovering from mental illness get better quicker. We worked with a range of people recovering from different illnesses, along with a broad range of clinical partners to understand how the web could deliver more interactive, social and patient-centred services. After several months of prototyping and co-design the idea for Buddy - the diary that helps you do better things - was born.

The product

Buddy is a combination of a web application and an intelligent SMS messaging system that helps people recovering from mental illness keep a daily diary of what they are doing, and how they are feeling. They then use this information to improve NHS therapy sessions they are receiving, and to focus recovery on goal setting.

For users, Buddy helps them connect what they are doing with how they are feeling, so they can do more of the things that make them feel good. From a clinical perspective, this is called 'behavioural activation', and Buddy simply makes it easier to spot the right behaviours to activate, and then to follow through with the changes required. On average, 75% of user complete their diaries every day using Buddy, a much higher figure than is traditionally achieved with paper based tools.

For the NHS, Buddy provides rapid insight into their users' lives, it allows them to prompt 'good' behaviour between sessions, and it can help reduce missed appointments, thus saving money.

Buddy is currently being used by two NHS mental health service providers to support a user community of thousands of patients.

The vision

Buddy will roll out nationally over the next 12 months, and internationally the following year. The aim is to be available to 1 million users of NHS services by the end of 2014.

Going forwards, Buddy will be the first of a portfolio of design-led and patient-centred digital healthcare products. For too long, technology in healthcare has been the preserve of clinicians and IT managers - we believe that it is time for a renaissance in how healthcare is designed and delivered, and Buddy is leading the charge.