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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Health Serv.

Sec. Mental Health Services

Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1707463

This article is part of the Research TopicExpanding the Reach of Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions for Mental Health: Innovation, Access, and EquityView all 8 articles

Navigating NHS Commissioning for Digital Mental Health: A Perspective on Learning Through Collaboration

Provisionally accepted
Charlotte L HallCharlotte L Hall1,2,3*Kelly-Marie PrenticeKelly-Marie Prentice2Olivia HastingsOlivia Hastings2Camilla BabbageCamilla Babbage2Sophie S HallSophie S Hall4Sarah J BoltonSarah J Bolton5Janet BouttellJanet Bouttell5Jonathan GibbonsJonathan Gibbons6Julian PatelJulian Patel7michael Wattsmichael Watts8E Bethan DaviesE Bethan Davies2,9Madeleine J GroomMadeleine J Groom2,3,9Chris HollisChris Hollis10,2,9
  • 1School of Medicine, Academic Unit of Mental Health & Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 2NIHR MindTech HealthTech Research Centre, Institute of Mental Health, School of Medicine, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 3NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 4University of Nottingham Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 5Centre for Healthcare Equipment and Technology Adoption, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 6P and Commercialisation Office, Research and Innovation, University of Nottingham, Ingenuity Centre, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 7Health Innovation East Midlands ,University of Nottingham Innovation Park, Triumph Road, Nottingham, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 8Blum Health Ltd, Atlantic House, 18 - 22 Hamilton Street, Birkenhead, UK, Birkenhead, United Kingdom
  • 9University of Nottingham Mental Health & Clinical Neurosciences Academic Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 10Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom

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Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) offer promising solutions to address unmet mental health needs among children and young people, yet how to get DMHIs commissioned into the NHS can seem mystifying for innovators. This perspective paper draws on insights from a collaborative commissioning event focused on the Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) intervention, a digital behavioural therapy for young people with tic disorders, to explore the barriers and enablers to commissioning DMHIs in England. Key challenges identified include unclear commissioning pathways, limited clinical expertise, integration hurdles, and short-term funding models. Enablers included clinical advocacy, robust research evidence, and alignment with national frameworks. These insights highlight the importance of early collaboration between academics, developers, and policymakers in the product development cycle seeking to bridge the gap between innovation and implementation in digital mental health care.

Keywords: digital mental health interventions, NHS commissioning, children and young people, Tic Disorders, Implementation barriers and enablers, innovation adoption

Received: 17 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Hall, Prentice, Hastings, Babbage, Hall, Bolton, Bouttell, Gibbons, Patel, Watts, Davies, Groom and Hollis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Charlotte L Hall, charlotte.hall@nottingham.ac.uk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material