26 October 2021

CNWL’s Community Hubs in Harrow, Hillingdon and Westminster have just gained access to MaST (Management and Supervision Tool) – a new digital solution to improve the day-to-day management of caseloads. This will support staff to provide the best possible care for people engaging with their services.

MaST brings together complex information from patient records and presents it to staff in a clear and understandable way. It supports staff to look at a range of factors that help with decisions on care needs.

For example, a patient’s history using mental health services, changes in housing, employment or diagnosis, or substance dependencies can make a huge impact on care planning and decisions. Seeing a change in these factors can help indicate if a patient could go into crisis within a month or if they might benefit from a change of care pathway.

MaST is already used in other Trusts such as Mersey Care and Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trusts – both have seen a positive impact on the standards of care provided. More vulnerable people are provided the care they need quicker and those who are potentially ready to continue their care in another service are often planned for in a more timely and proactive way. Mersey Care recently earned two Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards for its use of MaST in Community Mental Health – in the ‘Digital Innovation’ and ‘Covid Response’ categories.

Over the next six months, staff working in our Westminster, Harrow, and Hillingdon Community Hubs will gather feedback to understand whether CNWL observe similar results. The implementation of MaST is part of CNWL’s Community Mental Health Transformation which aims to provide more joined up care for people using our services. More details can be found here.

Here’s what some of our colleagues have said about trialling MaST:

"I think that MaST will be incredibly useful for the team and individual workers, allowing us to see a wealth of information to help inform care planning. By capturing so much information and presenting it in a clear way, the MaST platform will also help staff to collate information…."

Lauren Richman, Social Worker, Harrow Collaborative Sphere Community Mental Health Hub

“I carried out my first mini MaST trial today which has already changed how effectively I can gather key information. It supports staff and myself to be more efficient and productive in fulfilling service delivery obligations.  I’m very optimistic that MaST will make a significant difference in this area long-term”

Jacqueline Brumant, Community Team Leader & Senior Occupational Therapist at Harrow Health Sense Community Mental Health Hub

“In Hillingdon, we are very excited about this pilot and the potential use of this tool within our CMHTs. We hope it will support prevention of crisis in our client group, improve safety and quality in our services, give improved rates of discharge to primary care and ultimately lead to a better allocation of resource and better outcomes for our clients and staff.”

Sue Barrett, Hillingdon Community Mental Health Service Manager