Government commitment to widening NHS access to psychological therapies welcomed

Posted Thursday 2 December 2010

Mental health charities, professional groups and provider organisations today united in welcoming the Government's promise to offer psychological therapies to more people through the NHS, and called for this commitment to be backed up with the resources necessary to make it a reality.  

The New Savoy Partnership (NSP) is a coalition of organisations that have come together to support the extension of psychological therapies to the NHS in England. 

Speaking at the NSP’s Psychological Therapies in the NHS conference today, Minister of State for Care Services Paul Burstow announced that the Government would both complete the work of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme for adults with common mental health problems and extend access to talking therapies to children and young people, older people, people with severe and enduring mental health problems and people with long-term physical conditions and medically unexplained symptoms.

Jeremy Clarke, Chair of the NSP, said:

 We warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to finishing the job of IAPT and to looking beyond it to bring proven therapies to the many other people who do not currently receive the treatments they desperately need.

Access to evidence-based psychological therapies should be the norm in the NHS. We know that timely treatment is not only good for a person’s health but also excellent value for public money. Today’s move is a big step in the right direction for the whole of the NHS.

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said: 

The IAPT programme has had a great deal of success improving access to psychological therapy for individuals with depression and anxiety, and we welcome the news that it is to be extended to more people and across the whole of England. We know that timely access to a choice of NICE-approved psychological therapies makes a big difference to those experiencing mental distress and so the expansion of these services has tremendous potential to help a huge range of people.

Improving access to psychological therapies is good value for public money. Investing the funds and resources necessary to see these plans come to fruition will bring many benefits and we look forward to working with the Government to make this happen.

Don Brechin, Older People's Lead - Division of Clinical Psychology UK, said: 

By highlighting the needs of older people and focusing on existing areas of good practice and evidence based research we are working to show how IAPT can meet the needs of people over 65.

Around 20 per cent of people who access IAPT services should be over 65 years of age, yet the actual figure can be as low as 2 per cent. The research evidence shows that psychological therapies are just as effective for people over 65 as they are for people under 65. Moreover, it makes economic sense to have a healthy older population. Older people boost the UK economy by £250 billion per annum as workers, volunteers, carers and grandparents.
Sarah Brennan, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said: 

YoungMinds is very pleased that access to psychological therapies will be extended to include children and young people. We welcome the increased access to the high-quality evidence-based talking therapies which are so badly needed.

Dr Alan Cohen, Director of Primary Care at West London NHS Mental Health Trust, said: 

The link between physical long-term conditions and psychological health is well documented. Providing psychological support to people with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, or respiratory problems, for example, will improve not only their mental health, but also their physical health. It also holds out the possibility of providing a route to making significant savings for the NHS as a whole, through an investment in talking therapies. Such a ‘whole person’ approach to care is one to be widely welcomed.

Paul Jenkins, chief executive of Rethink, said:

We know from first-hand experience of running IAPT services that appropriate psychological therapy at the right time can have a profound impact on an individual’s recovery. This is true for people affected by a whole range of mental illnesses, including those with severe conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. 

The government’s commitment to increasing access to psychological therapy for people affected by severe mental illness is welcome news. As the experience of many Rethink supporters suggests, timely access to psychological therapies can be transformational in the outcomes experienced by someone affected by mental illness. The evidence also shows that they can lead to significant savings in the total cost of care.

Mental health charities, professional groups and provider organisations today united in welcoming the Government's promise to offer psychological therapies to more people through the NHS, and called for this commitment to be backed up with the resources necessary to make it a reality. 

The New Savoy Partnership (NSP) is a coalition of organisations that have come together to support the extension of psychological therapies to the NHS in England. 

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