The Pathways App team of occupational therapists (OTs) and service users at the Centre received a ‘Highly Commended’ award in the ‘Mental Health Innovation of the Year’ category at the annual Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards, held on Thursday 20 November 2025. The recognition meant that the team were in the top two of all finalists in this category.
The HSJ Awards received a total of 1,250 entries in the first stage, with more than 200 judges selecting 246 finalists across all categories.
The John Howard Centre provides specialist psychiatric services in east London. The app was created at the Centre to help service users to achieve their goals while staying in hospital.
It was developed within ELFT's Forensic Services to make care pathways visible, measurable, and empowering for both patients and staff. Led by a small, OT-led clinician team, it was co-designed with service users from the outset.
The project works closely with the Trust’s Quality Improvement (QI) Systems Flow Programme, which aims to streamline patient movement across various services. In this case, the Pathways app aligns digital insights with wider improvement work on patient flow. The team are currently establishing a formal partnership with ELFT to support sustainable growth across the NHS.
Pathways helps Forensic inpatients who often feel ‘stuck’ in hospital, giving them ownership of their own objectives and providing staff with real-time data.
One example of the way the Pathways app has been used is to make barriers to discharge of service users visible in real time. This has allowed staff to quickly identify and resolve issues that previously delayed patient movement, such as staff shortages. In this case, service users have been able to use the app’s visual milestone to track their own progress towards discharge.
Since launch, patients have reported a clearer understanding of their progress, greater confidence in their recovery, and a stronger sense of motivation and direction towards their recovery pathway. This has enabled staff and patients to develop positive relationships, so that progress can be monitored in real time.
Over the past year, the team has been working closely with ELFT’s Digital and IT departments to ensure full governance, compliance, and cybersecurity assurance.
Alongside this year’s HSJ Awards, the project has been recognised at other national ceremonies. In 2024, colleagues won the ‘Psychiatric Team of the Year: Digital Mental Health’ award at the annual RCPsych Awards.
If you would like to learn more about the project, you can take a look at this QI poster.
You can read about all of the winners of the HSJ Awards on its website.