Thalamos has launched Dr Finder, a digital platform that transforms the way healthcare professionals locate, book, and pay Independent Section 12 Doctors.
By removing inefficiencies in the assessment process, Dr Finder is set to enhance patient care, reduce administrative burdens, and support mental health professionals across the UK.
Addressing a critical gap
For years, AMHPs (Approved Mental Health Professionals) and other healthcare professionals have faced challenges when arranging Mental Health Act (MHA) assessments, from locating available doctors to managing excessive paperwork and delayed payments. Until now, the process of finding, booking, paying, and handling documentation for Independent S12 Doctors has remained largely isolated from the rest digitised care pathways, sometimes leading to unnecessary delays in care for individuals in crisis.
Dr Finder directly addresses these challenges by offering an intuitive, digital-first approach. It allows professionals to swiftly connect with available S12 doctors and then fits into the wider eMHA by Thalamos platform, one that allows for the digital completion of statutory Mental Health Act forms and ongoing patient management. The Dr Finder platform simplifies the full assessment journey — matching professionals with doctors, facilitating appointment requests, streamlining documentation, and ensuring timely payments.
“Dr Finder is a huge step towards a more joined up efficient, transparent, and patient-centred approach to MHA assessments.”
A history of innovation
Since its inception, Thalamos has been at the forefront of modernising MHA care pathways. Founded with the vision of digitising critical MHA processes, we have worked closely with NHS Mental Health Trusts, Local Authorities, police forces and independent professionals to improve the speed, security, and efficiency of mental health assessments, statutory paperwork and other core care requirements. Our existing products have already enabled faster decision-making, reduced paperwork errors and improved collaboration between mental health teams.
With Dr Finder, we are expanding our impact further. It will bring the same level of digital innovation to one of the most complex yet essential aspects of mental health care: the ability to quickly and effectively arrange MHA assessments from qualified doctors.
Solving real-world problems
Through ongoing collaboration with mental health professionals, Thalamos has identified persistent roadblocks in the MHA assessment pathway:
- Difficulty locating available S12 doctors — Finding the right specialist at short notice has been a challenge, often delaying crucial assessments
- Inefficient communication — Arranging assessments has traditionally relied on manual coordination, leading to administrative strain and slow response times
- Administrative burdens — Submitting paperwork, processing claims, and ensuring payment approvals have long been inefficient and time-consuming
- Interoperability of systems – where digitisation programmes have been undertaken, they have rarely integrated with other solutions on the pathway
Dr Finder addresses these challenges, creating a single digital platform that optimises doctor availability, automates documentation, and accelerates payment workflows. It is a response to customer demand and the desire to have a digitised version of this part of the pathway integrated with electronic form creation and submission.
By digitising doctor scheduling, booking, assessments, and payments, Dr Finder ensures a faster, more efficient, and more reliable process for all stakeholders. Whether it’s an AMHP needing to locate a doctor at short notice, a hospital streamlining assessments, or an independent S12 doctor ensuring they are paid promptly, Dr Finder is designed to make every step of the process smoother.
The importance of modernising these processes has never been clearer. With the upcoming reforms to the Mental Health Act, there is a pressing need to digitise key parts of the pathway to improve access to treatment, prioritise patient care, and reduce delays. Dr Finder directly supports this goal, ensuring that essential assessments can take place without unnecessary administrative obstacles.
Arden Tomison, CEO of Thalamos, commented: “Historically we’ve focused on MHA Documentation rather than the process of finding, booking, paying, and managing the paperwork for independent Section 12 doctors. However, our customers have said they want this joined up with the rest of the process, we have listened to those customers. At Thalamos, we believe that technology should enable and not hinder access to timely mental health care.
“Dr Finder is a huge step towards a more joined up efficient, transparent, and patient-centred approach to MHA assessments, and we’re excited to see the impact it will have.”
At Thalamos, we remain committed to transforming mental health care through digital solutions. Dr Finder is just the latest in our series of innovations, and we will continue working alongside mental health professionals, NHS partners, and policymakers to improve the speed, efficiency, and effectiveness of MHA processes.
For more information about Dr Finder and how it can support your team, have a look at our dedicated programme page and then contact us directly to arrange a demonstration and answers to your key questions.
