A partnership between Hull-based health tech brand, Moodbeam and Agencia’s Primary Care Direct aims to trial a self-reporting wellbeing tool to support GPs and clinical staff.

Amicus Health, a GP practice in Devon, will trial the Moodbeam One wearable device for eight weeks to monitor the mood of their 70 non-clinical and clinical staff.

Users at the practice will be able to log how they are feeling in the moment by pressing a single button.

The company said it was in early talks with Public Health England over trialling the device with student nurses.

WHY IT MATTERS

The information is tracked within Moodbeam’s companion app and provides the user with visualisations of mood information that can help the user identify personal triggers and patterns.

This information is stored in the cloud, enabling the data to be visible to employers on a dashboard to give them an insight into how people and teams are feeling and coping.

Comparisons and changes are visualised in real-time across different groups and serves as a driver for employee engagement, people support and positive organisational change.

The data aims to allow managers to step in and identify the most appropriate additional support for employees or teams.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Moodbeam's wearable device has been used in various sectors, with the aim to improve work conditions. In June, Pagabo and Moodbeam collaborated to aid mental health and wellbeing conditions in the construction sector.

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ON THE RECORD

Kiran Johnson, co-founder at Primary Care Direct, said: “The NHS People’s Plan places a heavy emphasis on staff wellbeing and the most important thing we can do in our business is to support the wellbeing of general practice teams, so this is the perfect opportunity to trial new ways of working, and we’re excited to be embarking on this adoptive trial of the Moodbeam One.

“We will be using the devices as a supplementary tool to our wellbeing procedures within the business. By having staff report how their day is going in real-time via the Moodbeam One, Primary Care Direct will be able to monitor how everyone is doing via the dashboards, making sure that if and where people do show signs of strain, we will be able to step in and support in a variety of ways before a crisis point is reached.”

Christina Colmer McHugh, co-founder and director at Hull-based Moodbeam, said: “We all know it can be quite hard to raise issues at work, especially if you are having a tough time, but self-reporting prompts allow staff to simply track how their day is going and report indirectly to managers and HR. Our dashboard combines this information and gives employers real-time feedback from staff – and especially throughout 2020 and the pandemic, being able to get this information from staff quickly without relying on appraisals or carrying out surveys will have been crucial."