Dr Nicola Reynolds
Please note this page was last updated in 2019. Visit Nicola’s LinkedIn profile for more information.
Nicola has worked in CAMHS and Specialist Children’s Services for over 10 years and is the clinical lead for an integrated neurodevelopmental service that provides assessment, diagnosis and ongoing support to children and young people presenting with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
In the past two years, Nicola has led on a quality improvement project involving the development and implementation of a web-based platform to support young people with ADHD. She is now the Principal Clinical Psychologist / Clinical Lead for IND.
Nicola is the winner of the Digital Pioneer Fellowship 2020 Empower Award.
Digital Pioneer Fellowship project: Headscape Focus
Problem: This project addresses the challenge of delivering high quality and effective care to approximately 600-3000 children and young people with ADHD in the London Borough of Greenwich. There has been a 30% increase in referrals in the last year and the traditional model of face-to-face service delivery has presented challenges in meeting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s clinical and quality standards.
Solution: The Greenwich ADHD Team have developed a web-based platform, “Headscape Focus,” that brings the ADHD care team, families, schools and other professionals in to a secure, shared online environment. This was developed alongside the “Healthlocker” platform being developed by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM), and builds upon the “Headscape” website previously developed by Oxleas. The significant innovation is that the platform has been developed for children with ADHD and has the additional functionality that enables schools and other health professionals to communicate with the team about the child’s progress.
Desired impact:
The intended outcomes are:
- Improved self-management of ADHD, thereby reducing difficulties at school and home.
- Improved collaboration and communication between the team, families, schools and other professionals to address difficulties sooner and more effectively.
- Reduced wait times for assessment.
Progress to date: Nicola and her team now have approximately 110 families signed up to the platform and 33 schools. The platform will be developed further over the next six months and scaled up across the Trust as it will become part of the Trusts online health record.
“This project was my first experience of developing technology to provide a health solution. I wanted to develop my skills and knowledge in order to help drive the development and adoption of digital working within my organisation, so I joined the Fellowship programme.
I now think more strategically, and this has expanded the remit of my digital role. I recently contributed to a bid for funding from NHS X, we were successful in securing £200K to contribute to the development of a digital care pathway for CAMHS.
I found the teaching invaluable, both the formal teaching and the Action Learning Set groups. I was able to use the insights I gained from the Change Management session to arrange an alignment conversation with the senior team. It had a significant impact on the project and led to my solution becoming incorporated into the Trust wide solution.
During the programme my reputation has grown as somebody who is digitally knowledgeable. My portfolio of skills is growing as is my Twitter profile. I have developed self-assurance and have been successful in making Digital Innovation a standing agenda item on the monthly managers meetings.” – Dr Nicola Reynolds