Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust worked with Avco Systems to redevelop True Colours into a resilient, scalable platform that helps clinicians and patients collect, review and act on meaningful symptom data.

Overview

True Colours is a digital symptom monitoring service provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. It supports clinicians and patients by collecting regular feedback through highly configurable forms and clinical questionnaires, with a particular focus on mental health services. The platform enables questionnaire responses to be securely captured, stored and reviewed within a patient profile. By making this information available during clinical conversations, True Colours helps teams identify trends, monitor progress and support more informed, patient-centred care.

The Opportunity

True Colours was originally developed through a long-standing collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. After successful pilot use in clinical and research settings, Oxford Health wanted to build on the strengths of the existing service and create a modern platform that would be ready for wider adoption, continued enhancement and long-term sustainability.

Having worked with Oxford Health on previous projects, Avco provided an assessment and technical review of the existing service, helping to set out recommendations and propose a future direction for the platform’s architecture.

Avco subsequently partnered with Oxford Health to support the redevelopment of True Colours. The project built on the established service model and clinical expertise developed over many years, while creating a resilient and scalable foundation to support future growth, wider clinical use and continued innovation.

Our Approach

Development of the new True Colours platform began in February 2022, with Oxford Health and Avco working closely throughout delivery. Avco’s agile approach gave Oxford Health regular opportunities to review progress, provide feedback and prioritise improvements, helping the project move forward with shared visibility.

The initial redevelopment focused on the core capabilities needed to support clinical use, including patient profiles for clinicians, configurable questionnaires and goals, and scheduling tools for email and SMS completion prompts. The programme also included a carefully managed migration from the existing service to the new platform, helping maintain continuity for clinicians and patients as True Colours moved onto its new technical foundation.

Continuous Improvement

Since launch, Oxford Health and Avco have enhanced True Colours through regular releases informed by user feedback and evolving service requirements. This has enabled regular improvements, helping the platform respond to new clinical, operational and integration needs.

Notable enhancements include integration with Access Rio, an electronic patient record system used by community, mental health and child health providers. The Rio integration enables data to be synchronised between True Colours and Rio, and allows clinicians to launch True Colours directly from Rio, taking them securely to the relevant patient profile.

Oxford Health and Avco continue to explore opportunities to extend the platform’s value, including open questionnaires that can collect responses from wider audiences using shared links or QR codes. Upcoming NHS App integration will simplify access for patients, helping True Colours fit more naturally into existing NHS digital journeys. This reflects one of True Colours’ strengths: its flexibility. By supporting patient-specific monitoring and broader data collection, the platform can help with clinical care, service feedback, referrals and research activity within a single environment.

The Result

The collaboration has given Oxford Health a platform that can respond to changing clinical and operational needs while keeping the purpose of True Colours clear: helping teams gather meaningful patient-reported information and use it confidently in care.

True Colours is now supported by a modern platform designed for resilience, security and continued evolution. It provides Oxford Health with a flexible digital service that helps clinicians review meaningful information over time and supports patients in contributing regular insight into their own care. The new True Colours platform was designed with multi-tenancy in mind, allowing Oxford health to manage multiple instances for teams, studies and other organisations while benefiting from a common, centrally managed platform.

For Avco, the project shows how technical redevelopment can support an established service, reduce future constraints and create room for new ideas. We are proud to work alongside Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust on a service that brings together clinical expertise, research heritage and practical digital delivery.

As True Colours evolves, its role in helping teams capture, understand and use patient-reported information remains central. Avco is pleased to support Oxford Health as True Colours develops further and continues to contribute to high-quality, patient-centred care.