“What surprises services most is how collaborative the process is. We come to you, work around your timescales, and bring both teams together in person to build a shared understanding of the pathway.”
Nicola Gemmell, NHS Partnership Manager, Healios
When NHS services commission an external mental health or neurodevelopmental pathway, the conversation often centres on clinical quality, capacity and cost. Those things matter. But what determines whether a partnership works from day one is a more operational question: how quickly and reliably can you mobilise?
Mobilisation is not a back-office function. It ensures clinical governance is in place before the first referral, the right people are trained, and systems on both sides are connected and working. When it goes wrong, services feel it immediately.
Having mobilised over 400 projects across more than a decade, we know every service is different. We can mobilise in as little as two weeks, while adapting to your timescales and parameters. We move at your pace, drawing on our experience to make sure everything is ready for a safe and effective go-live.
Why mobilisation matters more than most services expect
The pressure to reduce mental health and neurodevelopmental waiting lists and improve access to care is real. For many services, bringing in external capacity feels urgent. But rushing mobilisation to get to go-live faster can create problems rather than solve them.
A robust, well-rehearsed process helps avoid that. Our mobilisation approach has been honed through experience, allowing our team to anticipate potential issues and resolve them before go-live, rather than under operational pressure.
Strong mobilisation does not slow a service down. It means that when the pathway goes live, it goes live properly.
“Clinical services understandably want to start referring quickly, but information governance can sometimes be the sticking point. Healios holds the security certifications required for secure data sharing with the NHS – ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus and NHS DSPT at Standards Exceeded. Our dedicated IG team will work directly with your IG lead to ensure any local standards are also met, helping us get to that all-important first referral as quickly as possible.”
Nicola Gemmell, NHS Partnership Manager, Healios
The four requirements of the Healios mobilisation process
Our mobilisation process is built around four key requirements, that protect clinical safety and operational integrity.
Requirement 1: Contract signed
Once a contract is agreed and signed, the mobilisation process begins. This initial gatepost triggers the implementation meeting.
Requirement 2: Implementation and training
The implementation meeting brings the relevant people from both teams together, including the clinical and administrative leads, to agree how the pathway will work in practice. This meeting is vital to ensure that the Healios offer is equitable with that of the local service, and we recommend meeting in person, helping both teams build a shared understanding of the pathway, responsibilities and processes before go-live. Training is also booked in for local staff in how to use the Healios portal.
Requirement 3: Due diligence and IG documentation
Before any referrals can be accepted, the required information governance documentation must be completed and signed off by both parties. Healios has standard documentation in place to support the process, so services don’t have to start from scratch. Our dedicated IG team can also work directly with your IG lead to keep things moving.
Requirement 4: Go-live
Once IG documentation is signed off and portal training is complete, the pathway goes live and referral submissions can begin. The Healios Implementation Lead conducts a go-live check-in within two weeks of the first referral to ensure activity is as planned and any questions are quickly addressed, with further ad-hoc meetings booked as required. Contract review meetings then continue on a monthly basis.
What a well-mobilised pathway looks like from day one
When mobilisation is done well, the difference is felt immediately. Referring staff know how to use the system. Escalation processes are agreed before they are needed. The first referrals move smoothly because the groundwork has been done.
For Heads of Service and Commissioners, a well-mobilised pathway also means fewer surprises. Governance is in place. IG documentation is signed. The operational relationship between the two clinical teams is established. From there, the focus can remain where it belongs: delivering high-quality care to those referred.
“The implementation meeting is so important. It’s where you start to build the communication and relationships between both teams that will really matter once the pathway goes live.”
Nicola Gemmell, NHS Partnership Manager, Healios
If you are considering commissioning an external mental health or neurodevelopmental pathway and would like to understand what the mobilisation process looks like in practice, we would welcome a conversation.