Review of the Care Programme Approach

20 February 2007

Yesterday we submitted our response to the Department of Health's consultation document Reviewing the Care Programme Approach 2006.

The CPA is the single care coordination approach for adults of working age with mental health needs. Effective use of it could make a big difference to improving the lives of service users. We believe the CPA is so crucial that we think it should be enshrined in statute as a legal right.

However we are not convinced of the need for a review of CPA, nor that the current policy is ineffective. Our response includes the following points:

  • We oppose the abolition of standard level CPA unless the outcome is full, enhanced CPA for all.
  • Recovery and choice should be the primary principles informing the CPA.
  • A significant omission from the identified key groups is offenders. As a consequence, we would support the incorporation of CPA with the offender management process wherever appropriate.
  • Core competencies for care co-ordinators must be informed by a recovery-based approach that is led, wherever possible, by service users and carers. Care co-ordinators will require a range of competencies in:
    • Employment and meaningful occupation;
    • Interpersonal skills that have regard for personal dignity and trust building;
    • The physical health needs of mental health service users and the services available to address these needs;
    • Effective collaborative and partnership working, to augment their own skill set with the expertise of colleagues from other health, social care, voluntary and community agencies.
  • None of these proposals require any fundamental change to the current CPA provisions. Rather they point to the necessity for rigorous, high quality implementation of existing CPA arrangements, reinforced by effective workforce development for key staff involved in delivering CPA and considered and responsible partnership working between agencies from all relevant sectors.

You can download the full response below.

Download our response to the CPA consultation (Word, 143 KB)