Scaling Group Therapy Provision
The Challenge
NHS therapy services face a structural crisis: demand for structured, therapist-led
programmes is growing faster than workforce capacity. For MSK, pulmonary, cardiac,
stroke, and mental health services, the gap between referrals and available
appointments is widening every year.
People on NHS waiting
lists for treatment
(Nov 2025)
Mental health referrals
per month – 40% higher
than 2019
Cardiac rehab
programmes meeting
national certification (2024)
Our Solution
Group-led therapy is one evidence-based solution — allowing one clinician to deliver structured, outcomes-monitored programmes to multiple patients simultaneously.
The challenge is with coordination: scheduling cohorts, capturing PROMs across groups, managing reminders, and reporting outcomes at the service level.
Autonom-e provides the digital infrastructure that makes group therapy possible and scalable whilst reducing administrative burden, improving workforce utilisation and the patient experience
How group therapy can help
A single clinician delivering a 6-week group programme to 10 patients
generates the same throughput as 60 individual appointments — without
proportional cost increases. With Autonom-e, each session is scheduled,
patients are automatically notified, PROMs are captured before and after each
block, and outcomes are available in real time on the clinician dashboard.
Structuring group therapy
Referral & Triage
Cohort assignment
Session scheduling
Automated reminders
Monitoring & review
Discharge & PIFU
Platform Features for group therapy services
Group scheduling and cohort management
Programme full blocks of group therapy sessions in advance from the clinical dashboard. Assign multiple patients to group sessions in a single action.
Assign specific facilitating staff members to each session. Sessions automatically pushed to each patient’s app with date, time, format, and joining instructions.
Assessment, triage and PROM monitoring
Over 70 validated Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) available across clinical areas. Configurable assessment bundles aligned to specific conditions (MSK, pulmonary, cardiac, mental health, neurological, rheumatological).
Triage dashboards enabling clinical teams to stratify patients into appropriate group cohorts. Pre- and post-programme PROM capture to measure group-level and individual outcomes.
Reporting and service analytics
Cohort-level outcomes dashboards showing improvement trends across group programmes. Individual patient progress visible within the group context. Export clinical reports directly to electronic health records (e.g. SystmOne). Service-level data to support commissioning decisions, business cases, and NICE compliance reporting. Cost-effectiveness modelling data to demonstrate value to ICB commissioners
Self-management and resources
Configurable digital resource library aligned to each group programme (condition-specific written, audio, and video content). Signposting to peer support, local services, and third-party providers within the app.
Translatable resources supporting diverse and multilingual populations. eDiary tools for symptom tracking, goal-setting, and exertion monitoring between sessions
Why choose autonom-e for group therapy?
1. Configurable to your pathway
Tailor group programme structures, eligibility criteria, PROM bundles, session formats, resources, and branding to match your service design – without expensive bespoke development.
2. Reduces administrative burden
Digital scheduling, automated patient notifications, and pre-session PROM capture eliminate paper, postage, and manual data entry. One NHS Trust reported saving several hours of administrative work per week.
3. Reduces waiting times
Patients complete assessments before their first appointment, cutting waiting time by up to 14 days in documented NHS deployments. Group format multiplies throughtout without multiplying clinician time.
4. Scalable across organisations
Supports single-service or multi-site deployments across ICBs, NHS Trusts, community providers, and VCSE organisations – with each site maintaining its own configuration and branding.
5. Evidence-ready
Capture group-level and individual outcomes data to evaluate service impact, demonstrate cost-effectiveness to commissioners, and support research bids or NICE submissions.
6. Supports health equity
Multilingual resources, accessible app design, and professional referral routes for patients with digital access needs reduce barriers to engagement across diverse populations.
Outcomes
Reduction in admin time supporting screening (NHS Lanarkshire)
Reduction in clinician time on virtual assessments (Airedale & Bradford)
PROM completion rate across patient cohorts (Airedale & Bradford)
“Since adoption, people with Long COVID have their initial screening three weeks
faster on average, meaning they are triaged and added to the waiting list 3 weeks
sooner. Administration report a 90% reduction in time spent supporting screening.
Clinicians have a 50% reduction in the time taken to triage each person”.
NHS Lanarkshire Health Board
Contact Us
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