Ross O’Brien

Last updated on
Ross O'Brien

Please note that this page was last updated in 2018. Visit Ross O’Brien’s LinkedIn profile for more information. 

Ross O’Brien, Service Manager, Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Project: Virtual Reality in Mental Health

The Virtual Reality (VR) in Mental Health project has identified scalable projects in mental health care, namely linked to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. There are also a range of potential benefits in Older Adults and Children and Adolescent Care Services. In fact, the beauty of using VR in health is its ease of use and take up across ages, gender and culture. This may be an issue in itself as the scope of the project is huge. An initial process will be to decide a scope that is manageable in the course of the preceding 12 months.

Ross has had an active interest in how health intersects with the digital world for the duration of his NHS career. Ross has a background in both health commissioning and provision in the statutory and voluntary sector. Ross currently leads the pan London IAPT Clinical Network Digital Development Initiative. Ross is developing a referral and information platform applying artificial intelligence and social media initiatives to drive up referrals and increase financial savings against therapeutic input. Ross has worked in West London for over five years and has been leading Primary Care Mental Health Services throughout. In June 2017, the Grenfell Fire tragedy unfolded and Ross was one of the first health responders on the scene.

Ross currently manages the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service and is leading initiatives based in both the community and in clinical settings to empower and support the community affected by the fire. Ross is extremely keen to unlock the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) in order to start conversations around mental health in a new and innovative way. Ross is the Project Manager for the Grenfell VR collaboration between the NHS and FRED (an external VR agency).

“Digital transformation is critical, because it will enable the NHS to keep pace with emerging industries, innovate, remain a world leader, and excel in healthcare”