Online hospital risks ‘leaving behind’ mental health, top CEO warns

Mental health is at risk of being “left behind” by the first online NHS hospital, a top mental health chief executive has said.

Ify Okocha, CEO of Oxleas Foundation Trust told his board last week that he had personally challenged NHS Online’s new chair over the exclusion of mental health from the service’s initial plans.

He said: “I feel strongly about it. This is often what happens – mental health is left behind, and then we’re told ‘we don’t quite know how to help you’. I’m keen for us to be a part of that.”

The NHS “online hospital” will offer remote specialist treatment to patients referred by their GP. It is scheduled to see its first patients in 2027.

Last month, one of NHS Online’s non-executive directors pledged that safeguards would be put in place to prevent the organisation from “draining the resources” of the wider NHS workforce. The trust is currently recruiting for its chief digital and information officer.

In January, NHS England announced nine areas which would be the focus of the new hospital, including women’s health issues, prostate problems, and ophthalmology conditions.

Dr Okocha said he was “struck by” the emphasis being placed on services like ophthalmology “but no mention of mental health”.

He said he had raised this issue with those overseeing the hospital launch and was told, in essence, that “the service needed to start somewhere”.

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Source: HSJ, 7 July 2026