£3.4m study to test same-day mental health support across Wales

Mark Mansfield

Wales is to become the first country to test an open-access mental health support system on a national scale as part of a £3.4m research programme.

The four-year study will examine whether allowing people to seek help without going through traditional referral routes can improve access to services, patients’ experiences and their mental health outcomes.

Under the model, people will be able to access support on the same day they ask for help and have greater choice over the type of assistance they receive.

The £3.4m Programme Grant for Applied Research has been awarded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and will fund a national evaluation of the approach.

The move comes amid increasing demand for mental health support and concerns over waiting times.

It also forms part of the Welsh Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2025-35, which sets an ambition for Wales to become the first nation to achieve same-day mental health support.

The strategy says services should be “person-centred, needs-led and recovery-focused”, with people guided to the appropriate support without delay.

A central principle of the strategy is a “no wrong door” approach, under which people should be able to approach any part of the system and be directed to appropriate support without delay.

The evaluation will be led by NHS Wales Performance and Improvement alongside Cardiff University’s Centre for Trials Research and School of Healthcare Sciences.

Swansea University, Northumbria University, Public Health Wales, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and ProMo-Cymru will also be involved.

People who have used mental health services will participate through patient panels and stakeholder groups, helping researchers assess how the changes work in practice.

Ciara Rogers, National Director of Mental Health, Learning Disability and Neurodiversity for NHS Wales Performance and Improvement, said: “While evidence suggests that early intervention and greater choice through an open access model can improve outcomes, this approach has never been evaluated at national scale.

“This substantial investment will allow us to understand whether open access mental health services are truly making a difference for people in Wales by improving access to support, enhancing experiences of care and delivering better outcomes.”

National evaluation

Dr Rachel McNamara, Director of the Brain Health and Mental Wellbeing Division at Cardiff University’s Centre for Trials Research and co-chief investigator, said the project would bring together the NHS, universities, the third sector and people with experience of using services.

Tony Cope, Expert by Lived Experience and co-chair of the Mental Health Research and Evidence Network, said: “The NIHR funding for the Open Access Mental Health Support programme evaluation is a vital opportunity to understand what genuinely works for people using mental health support, and why.

“I welcome this investment in evidence that values lived experience, strengthens learning across Wales, and helps shape services that are more accessible, responsive and rooted in what matters to people.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.