NHS data released in 2025, showed over 16,000 people had waited more than 18 months for mental health treatment — a delay eight times longer than for physical health care. Closing this gap should be an urgent priority.
Digital therapies are software-based interventions that can be offered as blended or standalone therapies. They offer a vital opportunity to deliver therapy more efficiently, reduce waiting times, offer digital support during delays, and expand community-based mental health care. They can also help standardise the delivery of care.
Our Digital Therapies theme is accelerating the development, precision, and implementation of evidence-based novel digital therapeutics to treat mental health conditions and enhance wellbeing in people with long term conditions. We are developing and trialling innovative digital therapies that are theory driven. This includes defining and testing the mechanisms of action, which are then embedded in our digital innovations.
Core to all our work is collaborating with people with lived experience to maximise benefit and acceptability of digital products from proof-of-concept, development, and early- and late-stage clinical. A focus of co-development is working alongside under-represented groups to ensure products are acceptable to a diverse range of users.
We use quantitative machine learning approaches, alongside qualitative methods to continually enhance our digital products through the research and real world pipeline. Our theme is committed to delivering safe, evidence-based products to patients by building strategic industry partnerships and working closely with regulators and key stakeholders to shape policies that support and enable this goal.We have developed a number of digital therapies and digital health apps, building expertise in co-design and the regulatory processes involved. We have shared our learnings and resources including key contacts on these pages.
