Over the past four years, We Can Talk has supported acute hospitals across England through a national programme with NHS England—helping staff respond with confidence and compassion to people attending due to their mental health.
Now, thanks to detailed analysis from Dr Ilyas Sagar, Data Analyst at We Can Talk and Founder of I.Insights, we can show that the benefits are not only clinical, but economic.
A strong return on investment
Dr Sagar’s evaluation of We Can Talk’s national delivery shows that:
📈 Every £1 invested generated nearly £5 in cost savings between 2021 and 2024
These savings were driven by measurable reductions six months post training in:
• Security callouts (↓43%)
• Patients absconding (↓40%)
• Complaints (↓27%)
• Staff sick days (↓66%)
Each of these outcomes was statistically significant at the 0.05 level using a sample of 121 staff who completed We Can Talk training.
In addition, staff reported a 30% reduction in thoughts about leaving their role. While this figure was not statistically significant on its own, when viewed alongside the reduction in sick days—and the well-established link between absence and staff turnover—it strengthens the case for improved workplace stability.
Smarter, more sustainable care
Better mental health conversations reduce incidents, improve staff wellbeing and create safer environments for everyone. With over one million people attending hospital due to their mental health each year, this kind of shift matters—not just for individuals, but across the entire system.
What’s next: local partnerships, deeper insight
As We Can Talk moves from national delivery to local partnerships, we’re giving trusts more control and visibility over their impact.
All organisational subscriptions now include:
• An annual impact report, including ROI
• Learner compliance exports for internal reporting
• Support to track outcomes through your existing systems
This means trusts can verify results locally, understand what’s changing, and work collectively to shape future improvements.
Want to talk?
If you’d like to explore how We Can Talk could support your organisation, we’d love to hear from you.
Use the form below and select: “I want to connect with your team”
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust has been an engaged and proactive partner in the We Can Talk programme from the early stages of our national roll-out. Now, as we move to locally led delivery, the trust has signed a new organisational subscription—ensuring that all staff have access to our one-hour e-learning.
Their story is a powerful example of what’s possible when training builds confidence, and confidence leads to innovation.
Practical change driven by frontline insight
A few years ago, the team at Princess Alexandra Hospital identified a critical issue: patients attending A&E in mental health crisis were waiting too long to be triaged. Longer waits meant increased distress, higher risk of escalation, and a growing number of absconsions. At one point, 15% of these presentations were linked to incident reports.
Cassie Burke, Mental Health Liaison Nurse at the trust, saw an opportunity to intervene.
“My aim was to improve registration, reduce anxiety, and lower the risk of escalation or absconsion.”
Working in partnership with We Can Talk Lived Experience Advisors, Cassie co-produced a rapid access card. It allowed patients to discreetly communicate their reason for attendance, so staff could offer an alternative waiting space and ensure triage happened more sensitively and efficiently.
What changed
After implementing the card, the results were clear:
• 66% improvement in triage wait times, with a 25-minute average reduction
• Zero reported incidents during the audit period
• Sustained improvement, with average triage times now consistently below 16 minutes
• Absconsion rate reduced to 0% during key phases of the project
Earlier evaluations showed similarly powerful outcomes—even as demand increased.
This is what happens when confident staff are supported to lead change, with co-designed tools that meet real-world needs.
Now scaling access trust-wide
As part of the move to local partnerships, the trust has signed an organisational subscription to We Can Talk, enabling access to our one-hour, self-directed e-learning across the workforce.
Designed for staff, students and volunteers working with patients of all ages, the training provides core knowledge and confidence—and with unlimited licences, the trust can now train all 5,000 staff.
This isn’t about creating mental health specialists. It’s about ensuring every member of staff has the tools to offer safe, compassionate care when someone is in crisis—and the confidence to act when it matters.
Want to explore how We Can Talk could support your organisation?
Use the form below and select: “I want to connect with your team.”
When Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust introduced We Can Talk training, it was part of a wider commitment to improving how staff support people attending hospital due to their mental health.
The result? A trust-wide boost in staff confidence—and a new innovation that’s gaining attention across the system.
Beth Duncalf, mental health and learning disability practice educator at the trust, used the We Can Talk platform as a foundation to co-design a tool that helps staff support patients in crisis in practical, compassionate ways. That project—the mental health toolbox—has now been presented at the European Academy of Paediatric Societies in Vienna and shared with trust leadership during quality rounds.
Turning knowledge into action
Since launching We Can Talk, nearly 300 staff across Alder Hey have completed the training, logging over 800 hours of learning. That investment in capability created the conditions for something more.
Beth led a quality improvement project alongside We Can Talk’s lived experience advisors—people who know what it’s like to attend hospital in crisis. Together, they developed a simple, structured resource that helps patients navigate difficult moments and helps staff respond with confidence.
The toolbox includes both a physical kit and a user-friendly booklet, built around four types of support:
• Physical – drawing, eating, games
• Calming – mindfulness, breathing, sensory ideas
• Distraction – films, music, writing prompts
• Letterbox – space to write to staff when talking feels too hard
Designed to be flexible, it supports both guided use and independent exploration—making it useful even when staff are stretched for time.
“Before the training, many staff avoided these conversations—not because they didn’t care, but because they didn’t feel confident. The toolbox gave them a way in. A starting point.” – Beth Duncalf
Leading by example
This is what We Can Talk is designed to do: give staff the confidence to use the skills they already have—and turn that confidence into action.
The training provided the shared language, practical tools and cultural shift. Beth and the team built on that to create something lasting—an example other trusts can learn from as they embed the programme more deeply.
Want to talk?
If you’d like to explore how We Can Talk could support your organisation, we’d love to hear from you.
Use the form below and select: “I want to connect with your team”
