An evaluation of a new service model: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies demonstration sites 2006-2009, Final Report.

Abstract

The Government would like to support people to move off benefits and into work. Mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are among the commonest reasons why people cannot work. These are relatively easily treated by psychological therapy, but this is hard to find in the NHS. The NHS has funded two Demonstration Sites which will make psychological therapy more widely available in sites close to peoples homes. We will look at what happens to patients in these sites, and compare it to what happens elsewhere. We will compare three kinds of places (1) The two National Demonstration Sites; (2) Places implementing their own innovations with a smaller amount of money than the Demonstration Sites and (3) Places who have not made any changes to their services, and will act as a kind of benchmark for the other two. We will compare these locations in three ways: (a) how satisfied are people with the services they receive; (b) how many people recover, and to what extent; (c) what is the financial cost of any improvement (balancing any extra costs of services against reductions in benefits claimed.) All participants will fill out some questionnaires to help us assess how their mental health has changed. We will invite a smaller number of people to have an interview, so we can hear in more detail what they liked (or did not like) about the services