InsideOut® and NHS GP Pathfinders launch staff wellbeing pilot to look after the people who look after patients

InsideOut®, the digital mental health platform, has launched a three month staff wellbeing pilot with GP Pathfinders, a multi-site NHS primary care network operating across Brent and North West London.

From 3 November, employees of GP Pathfinders can use the InsideOut® app free of charge, with support available day or night and fitted around their shifts.

The pilot launches with an in-person event at the GP Pathfinders HQ. The InsideOut team is looking forward to meeting GP Pathfinders staff face to face, hearing what matters to them, answering their questions and helping them get set up on the day.

The problem: the people who care for us are struggling in silence

Picture a practice nurse driving home after a ten-hour shift, still replaying a difficult consultation. Or a receptionist who has spent the day absorbing patients' frustration, then lies awake at 2am dreading tomorrow. For many people working in the NHS, this isn't an occasional bad day. It's normal.

The data shows how widespread this is. In last year's NHS Staff Survey of more than 750,000 staff, 42% said they had felt unwell because of work-related stress in the past year. Nearly one in three feel burnt out because of their work and a third find it emotionally exhausting. More than half went to work in the last three months despite not feeling well enough.

General practice is under particular strain. The RCGP's 2025 GP Voice survey of 2,316 GPs and GP registrars found 28% feel so stressed they cannot cope at least once a week and stress was the main reason GPs gave for thinking about leaving.

Too often, people also suffer in silence. In a Royal Medical Benevolent Fund survey of 1,351 doctors, 84% said doctors are unlikely to reach out for help because they fear discrimination or stigma from colleagues. A Mind survey of more than 1,000 GPs found two in five had experienced a mental health problem, with worries about fitness to practise and stigma holding many back from seeking help. The people we turn to when we're unwell often find it hardest to ask for help themselves.

Why this pilot: removing the barriers to asking for help

We believe the biggest barrier isn't a lack of services. It's that asking for help can feel impossible. Fear of being judged by colleagues, worries about confidentiality and having no time between shifts keep people from reaching out until things reach breaking point.

This pilot is built around those barriers. InsideOut® is private and confidential: what staff share, stays with them. There's no waiting list, no appointment and no one to explain yourself to. People can start on their phone, in their own time, whether that's a quiet five minutes at lunch or 2am when sleep won't come.

You don't have to be struggling to use it. InsideOut® is as much about staying well as getting better. That matters, because when looking after your mental health becomes something everyone does, it stops being a sign that something is wrong and the stigma starts to lift.

For three months, GP Pathfinders’ staff gets:

• Remi®, a 24/7 AI mental health coach — private, text-based support in 80+ languages that listens without judgement, shares practical ways to cope with stress, anxiety or low mood, and points people to the right tools. Remi is underpinned by InsideOut's clinical safety layer, with human-in-the-loop clinical oversight.\

• Bite-sized, clinical-grade courses and masterclasses — interactive, self-led programmes drawing on CBT, ACT and mindfulness, covering stress, burnout, sleep and low mood, designed for the busiest of people.

• A mental fitness toolkit — meditations, exercises, mood and sleep tracking, and journaling to build healthy daily habits.

The pilot also has a purpose beyond one practice. InsideOut® will learn how staff use the app day to day in a real NHS working environment and build real-world evidence of its impact on their wellbeing. If it helps here, it can help many more people across primary care.

That builds on existing evidence. A previous randomised controlled trial of InsideOut's AI-avatar-led CBT programme, funded by SBRI Healthcare with participants recruited through GPs, found users saw significantly greater reductions in low mood and anxiety than a waitlist group, alongside better concentration at work.

"Doctors, nurses and practice teams spend their days looking after all of us, but so often, they barely have the time to look after themselves. At InsideOut, we're really passionate about changing that. We want to make it easier for healthcare professionals to prioritise their own mental health and access support when they need it. We're incredibly pleased to be partnering with GP Pathfinders to help care for the people who care for us. Because looking after their wellbeing is just as important as looking after our own.”

— Laura Stembridge, CEO and Founder, InsideOut®

"As a Brent resident, this pilot is close to my heart. GP Pathfinders is part of the fabric of our community and I know from my years working on the NHS frontline how much staff give and how rarely they stop to look after themselves. Having support that’s private, always there and free from judgement can make a real difference. I’m grateful to Dr Jahan Mahmoodi and the whole GP Pathfinders team for championing their staff’s wellbeing and I’m proud to be leading this pilot with them.”

— Saira Arif, Partnerships Lead, InsideOut®

The partnership: starting at the heart of the community

GP Pathfinders is a centre point of its local community. The first door many people knock on when they need help. That makes it the right place to start. Looking after the team behind that door means better care for the patients and families who rely on it.

The pilot is free to GP Pathfinders for its full three months. Staff receive a unique download link to unlock their access and InsideOut® supports the rollout with launch materials and an in-person launch event.

“Our staff spend every day looking after other people, but in healthcare it is very easy for the wellbeing of the workforce itself to come last. What attracted us to this pilot was the opportunity to offer support in a way that fits around the reality of working in primary care —private, accessible at any time and available before somebody reaches crisis point. We have a large and diverse workforce, working across different roles and patterns, so a one-size-fits-all approach to wellbeing simply does not work. We also wanted to test something innovative and learn from it properly. If we can demonstrate that giving staff confidential, easily accessible support improves wellbeing and helps people feel more supported at work, that has relevance far beyond GP Pathfinder Clinics. Looking after the people who look after our patients is not separate from delivering good healthcare — it is fundamental to it.”

— Dr Jahan Mahmoodi, GP Clinical Director, GP Pathfinders

Findings from the pilot will be shared with GP Pathfinders and partners across the local Primary Care Network, to help build the case for a wider rollout across primary care.

For more information: www.lettheinsideout.com / saira@lettheinsideout.com