Commissioning 2014: Announcement of excellent clinical recovery rates

Commissioning 2014 will see the announcement of excellent clinical recovery results achieved by PsychologyOnline in support of the Surrey Mental Health CCG Collaboration; which was the first to commission the innovative online service.

One year on the instant messaging-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) service is proving a successful way to treat patients with depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders. Many patients are choosing to have out-of-office hours therapy from the comfort of their own homes.

Headline findings:

•          67% of all appointments out of office hours;

•          Average hours of therapy before completion:

-          2.2 hours step 2 patients (mild to moderate anxiety & depression);

-          6.2 hours step 3 patients (moderate to severe anxiety & depression);

-          9.8 hours step 3+ patients (severe to complex anxiety & depression);

•          65% clinical recovery overall (national figure of 40-50%).

PsychologyOnline uses instant messaging to support live CBT one-on-one with an experienced therapist via a secure internet connection on a computer, tablet or smartphone.

PsychologyOnline is assisting a growing number of commissioning groups to address the government's  “no health without mental health” pledge, which promises better access to psychological therapy, more effective and higher-quality treatments, and improved support for those caring for a mentally ill friend or relative.

The Surrey CCG collaboration was the first NHS organisation to adopt PsychologyOnline and a year on it has achieved some impressive results.

Dr Michael Reilly, director of Business Development for PsychologyOnline, be discussing the findings at the show and demonstrating how commissioners can extract greater knowledge from the extensive data PsychologyOnline collects. 

Commissioning is 25 – 26 June 2014 at the Excel conference centre in London.  You can visit PsychologyOnline on stand MM75.

(Webinar) Postnatal depression: Coming into the light

Webinar 10:00 – 11:00 9th July 2014

Postnatal depression transformed former midwife Joanne Morton’s life in many ways. She will be talking about her experiences in our forthcoming webinar on postnatal depression at 10:00, 9 July 2014.

“Pregnancy can bring about all sorts of anxieties; a woman’s body and mind change dramatically as you prepare to give birth and take responsibility of a tiny human life.  It is not surprising some mothers struggle to cope” says Joanne.

The symptoms of postnatal depression are often not recognised, even by health professionals.

Joanne continues: “The months after my son’s birth were difficult.  In the early stages of the illness, I felt some ups and downs but put this down to tiredness.  After five months, I felt absolutely panic-stricken for no apparent reason and this anxiety led me to stop eating properly. I lost a significant amount of weight.

“I couldn’t sleep and was utterly exhausted.  I was afraid to go outside or speak to people and often wouldn’t answer the phone if it rang.  I was often in tears and couldn’t explain why.  

“At this point I knew it couldn’t continue and I spoke to my GP and health visitor.  I was put on an NHS waiting list to receive counselling but the thing with postnatal depression is that you need to get treatment straight away, not in many months time. 

“I eventually decided to pay for private counselling. I developed a brilliant relationship with my counsellor and now feel 100% recovered, but I could still not get over the alarming lack of support for mothers like me.  I knew I had to do something about it.”

Joanne’s experience prompted her to retrain as an integrative counsellor and establish House of Light, a postnatal depression support group based in Hull, and to campaign for better support for women with this condition.

Joanne adds: “A big misconception people have is that they think if they admit to having postnatal depression, their child or children will be taken away.  This just isn’t true. 

“Families and partners need to become more aware of the warning signs of postnatal depression by being told what to look out for before their partner or daughter gives birth.

“All some mothers need is an objective person to talk through their feelings and concerns and they will often get better very quickly.”

If you would like to book your place at the webinar "Can Post Natal Depression be Predicted" on 9 July, send your name, organisation (if relevant) and email address to info@psychologyonline.co.uk with “PND webinar” in the subject field.

Can post-natal depression be predicted?

Webinar 10:00 - 11:00 9th July 2014

Many women (and their babies) are suffering needlessly from post-natal depression as the symptoms are not widely recognised and effective treatment is not always available quickly enough.

To better understand the factors that contribute to post-natal depression and why some women may not seek help, PsychologyOnline has run a national survey in partnership with Infertility Network UK and with the support of the online community Netmums.

The survey used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to provide a widely recognised indicator of the severity of depression. It also asked women about their personal circumstances (support network) and their attitudes to talking about their feelings.

The findings have indicated an association between the perceptions of the women, their personal circumstances and a score for degree of depression. This suggests that a predisposition to post-natal depression may be detectable before childbirth and if so it may create an opportunity to target support effectively.

To explore the issues further PsychologyOnline is hosting a webinar 10:00 on 9^th July 2014. 

Who should participate?

While it is aimed at health professionals – midwives, GPs, clinicians, therapists, commissioners - others with an interest in PND support are also welcome to join.

Discussion to cover

-           What is PND and how do you recognise the signs? 

-           What do professionals working with new mothers think causes PND?

-           Are the results from the survey borne out by practical experience?

-           What would effective treatment/support look like?

Format 

Three short presentations and then discussion and questions.

Presentations

Sarah Bateup: Clinical lead therapist at PsychologyOnline

Sarah Bateup, BABCP-accredited cognitive behavioural therapist with 27,000 hours of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), a lecturer at the University of Exeter and has trained GPs to deliver CBT.

Sarah will provide the context for the webinar and discuss some of the findings of PsychologyOnline’s survey.  She will also discuss how CBT can help mothers recover from post-natal depression by giving them tools and strategies to enable them to better cope with the triggers of their depression. 

Jo Morton: House of Light PND support group

An experienced midwife, Jo Morton developed post-natal depression herself following the birth of her son eight years ago and finding no other forms of assistance sought private therapy to help her recover.  She went on to establish House of Light, a support organisation for PND.

Sharon Davidson: Infertility Network UK

Sharon Davidson developed PND both after the birth of her IVF son and following the adoption of her daughter.  She now helps women affected by the condition as part of her role with IN U K and ACeBabes.

Sharon believes PND is an emotional response to the circumstances of caring for a newborn or young child and not solely a physical reaction caused by changing hormones. She believes more research is needed into this field and has spoken anecdotally to countless mums who have experienced PND following fertility treatment.

If you would like to book your place at the webinar, which will last for one hour, send your name, company and email address to info@psychologyonline.co.uk with “PND webinar” in the subject field.

At PULSE Live PsychologyOnline reports out-of-hours therapy success

Out-of-hours therapy for anxiety and depression is proving popular – with 86% of appointments made in the early evening – according to interim data from a project introduced by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IOW NHS Trust) to improve access to therapy.

This type of data is unique to PsychologyOnline and provides GPs and commissioners with new insights into patient response to therapy.  The company will be discussing how it collects clinical evidence at Pulse on stand 4.

The IoW project, financed under Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN), demonstrates that online therapy from PsychologyOnline is improving access to psychological therapies.

Shelley Weir, interim service lead for the IOW NHS Trust, says that patient choice was part of the decision to include PsychologyOnline within its portfolio of providers.

She adds: “As a largely rural community not everyone has the ability to easily travel to appointments.  With online therapy, our patients don’t have to get on a bus or drive; it can be done from home, which is especially beneficial for people with long-term or recurring mental health problems.

“Patients working on the mainland are rarely back before our office closes at 19:00 for face-to-face treatment. Now they can benefit from therapy after work or at weekends, with less disruption to their lives.”

The Mental Health team at IOW NHS Trust is offering text-based, online CBT to up to 40 patients classified as “step three”.  These patients suffer from moderate to severe mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and panic disorders, which require a higher intensity intervention.

Data from PsychologyOnline – which uses instant-messaging to deliver one-on-one cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with an experienced psychotherapist – shows the majority of the appointments were made between 19:00 and 21:00 on a weekday.

The Isle of Wight data also shows that GPs should not be concerned about offering online services to older people.  About 18% of patients referred to the service are over 50 with the oldest being 63.  The online consulting room is simple to use; if patients can send an email they can use the service.

It is also possible to track patient progress through the therapy providing useful data for commissioners on uptake of services. 

PsychologyOnline are showcasing its unique approach to text-based CBT on stand four at Pulse Live at the Manchester Central Convention Centre on 12-13 June 2014 and GPs are welcome to visit to discuss the features and benefits of this innovative service.