Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health

The Department of Health has published this paper on the next steps in the move towards the full roll out of Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services.

The guidance provides support for established and developing services, focusing on quality standards and analysing the progress that has been made in rolling out services to date.

Alongside guidance for the whole community, the Department of Health has published a guide to assist commissioners to deliver Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services for offenders in prison.

Alan Johnson's speech to the New Savoy Partnership conference talks about the IAPT programme and the Dame Carol Black review.

"It is the duty of any responsible and compassionate government to make sure that those with mental health problems can access the support they need."

"Today, I am publishing a Statement of Intent. It confirms our commitment to improving access to talking therapies – not just CBT, but all NICE-approved psychological therapies."

The Department of Health has published a guide to assist commissioners to deliver Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services that are effective and appropriate for the whole community, using innovative ways of meeting the needs of local people.

A group of mental health charities has published a report which says that the lives of those stuck on long NHS waiting lists for psychological treatments are being damaged as a result. Mental health problems can worsen, relationships can break down and some people are forced to take time off from work - or give up a job completely - according to While we are waiting.

National clinical guidelines recommend that psychological treatments should be made available on the NHS, but they remain difficult to access and the wait for patients is long.

This toolkit is to help primary care trusts improve or establish stepped-care psychological therapies following NICE guidelines for people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.

It brings together a wide range of existing tools and guides and includes positive practice examples throughout.

• 900,000 more people treated for depression and anxiety
• 450,000 of them are likely to be completely cured (as expected with NICE guidelines)
• 25,000 fewer people with mental health problems on sick pay and benefits
• 3,600 more newly-trained psychological therapists giving evidence-based treatment
• all GP practices having access to psychological therapies as the programme rolls out

The Department of Health has published this leaflet for the public on CBT, which is the therapy that will be used by the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme to make psychological therapies more widely available, especially for people who have depression or anxiety.

Rethink has published research that makes the economic case for the comprehensive spending review to recommend widespread investment in talking therapies. The report, The Next Lap: Taking mental health to the finishing line, suggests that:

• Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CCBT) should be used more often as it can help people gain and retain employment.
• Getting help to people with psychosis early on can result in significant savings because of lower future hospital admission rates.

The Mental Health Observatory North East region has published a briefing paper on psychological therapy staff.

It shows the availability of staff to provide psychological treatments for working-age adults with mental health problems.