This year marks five years since the launch of Your Portal, our secure online platform designed to support service users on their mental health recovery journeys at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS).
Since its launch in 2020, Your Portal has been at the forefront of digital innovation in Irish mental healthcare. The platform has empowered service users to take an active role in their care, strengthened communication with care teams and enhanced collaboration with supporters and healthcare professionals.
To celebrate this milestone, we hosted a special five-year anniversary event on 13 November, bringing together service users, staff and supporters for an evening of reflection, discussion and shared learning about the evolution and future of Your Portal.
What is Your Portal?
Your Portal is a secure, online platform that gives service users to access key information about their care and treatment in SPMHS.
Accessible by computer, smartphone or tablet, Your Portal enables service users to:
- View appointment details and access video links for scheduled appointments
- Receive notifications from their care team
- Complete forms and upload documents
- Access helpful resources for recovery and wellness.
Service users can also invite a carer, advocate, family member, friend or GP to share access, ensuring they have the support network they need while maintaining full control over who sees what information.
SPMHS was the first health service in Ireland to introduce a platform like this; a pioneering step that continues to set the standard for digital engagement and person-centred care in mental health.
How Your Portal supports recovery
Since its introduction, Your Portal has helped ensure that service users receive high-quality, coordinated and transparent care. It promotes understanding of treatment, encourages active participation in recovery and enhances communication between service users and their multidisciplinary teams.
The platform is hosted by Patients Know Best (PKB), one of Europe’s leading providers of personal health record systems. All information within Your Portal is stored securely in an accredited data centre in the Netherlands, protected by encryption and strict privacy standards.
Your Portal reflects SPMHS’ commitment to recovery-focused, person-centred and rights-based mental healthcare. By enabling access to information, Your Portal supports autonomy, trust, and shared decision-making - essential foundations for recovery.
Celebrating together: Our five-year anniversary event
The event opened with a welcome from Paul Gilligan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at SPMHS, who reflected on how Your Portal aligns with our broader strategic goals and the principles of rights-based information sharing that guide our work.
This was followed by insights from Orla Gogarty, Director of Digital Health at SPMHS, who spoke about how Your Portal supports the SPMHS Digital Transformation Strategy. She highlighted how the platform empowers service users, contributes to national eHealth objectives and enables safe, standardised information sharing while safeguarding privacy.
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, Founder of Patients Know Best (PKB), provided an overview of the collaborative partnership between PKB and SPMHS. He reflected on how joint innovation continues to inform the PKB roadmap and support ongoing development of the platform.
Frankie Prendergast, Digital Health Applications Programme Manager at SPMHS, presented key achievements and success stories from the past five years, highlighting the range of supports available to both service users and staff. Frankie also outlined current work and plans designed to further enhance the Your Portal experience across all services.
The evening concluded with an information stand and an opportunity for attendees to meet, connect and continue conversations sparked during the presentations.
Looking ahead: The future of Your Portal
Five years on, Your Portal continues to evolve. Ongoing development will see new features introduced, including greater access to health record information and new forms and assessments to support care across all services.
As we mark this milestone, we celebrate the collaboration between service users, staff and supporters who have helped shape and improve Your Portal since its launch.
We look forward to continuing this journey of innovation and partnership; ensuring that Your Portal remains a key part of how we deliver compassionate, connected and recovery-focused care at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services.
