A Mental Health Act software company has raised a £900K ($1million) Seed Round to help people who have been sectioned quicker and safer access to treatment.
Thalamos, which joins up admission, treatment, hospital and discharge care pathways, raised the money backed by Ascension’s Conduit Impact EIS Fund, Angels including Syndicate Room, and a private Seedrs crowdfund.
The future of the Mental Health Act
The work by Thalamos helps replace the outdated system of paper forms that is currently used to arrange care. A streamlined digital system is now in place which is said to decrease delays and the likelihood of errors. Using Thalamos instead of paper-based processes is reducing the risk of error by up to 89%.
The company already works with seven mental health care providers, giving over 40,000 practitioners access to the digital tools needed to speed up access to care for those in crisis.
A timely investment
As reported by the NHS, the number of people being sectioned under the Mental Health Act is continuing to rise, with over 53,000 detentions recorded between 2020 and 21.
The investment has therefore proved timely, and funding will be used by Thalamos to expand their team and grow as a company.
Founder Arden Tomison told us: “When an individual is sectioned under the Mental Health Act, they are in need of urgent treatment and support.
“Delays in accessing this can severely hamper recovery. The completion of Mental Health Act forms is an essential legal process that ensures patients receive the right treatment, safely; but no-one should have to wait for care when in crisis.
“As demand for acute mental health care rises, the current paper-based system piles an unnecessary administrative burden on clinicians’ plates, reducing their already limited capacity.
“This ultimately slows down access to treatment for patients and exacerbates growing pressures on services.
He added: “At Thalamos, we’re working closely with mental health care providers across England to deliver a fully digitised solution which makes access to acute care swifter, simpler and safer.
“This is helping practitioners speed up the arrangement of patient admission, treatment and transfer, while increasing data security and care quality.
“We’re so grateful to our amazing group of investors for supporting us to expand our work to optimise the care accessed and received by a growing number of mental health care patients.”
Immense challenge in the UK
Hadley Diest, Investment Manager at Ascension, will join Thalamos’ board as an independent advisor. She added: “Acute mental health care is an immense challenge in the UK – it is both traumatic for patients, and also hugely time-consuming and disjointed for the various stakeholders providing care.
Thalamos’ groundbreaking digital workflow tool enables those involved in patient intake, treatment, discharge and ongoing support to work together more seamlessly than ever before, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and more efficient collaboration between the NHS, police, care providers and regulators.”
