International Review of Psychiatry, August 2011; 23: 318–327

Implementing NICE guidelines for the psychological treatment of

depression and anxiety disorders: The IAPT experience

DAVID M. CLARK

University of Oxford, UK

Abstract
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme is a large-scale initiative that aims to greatly increase
the availability of NICE recommended psychological treatment for depression and anxiety disorders within the National
Health Service in England. This article describes the background to the programme, the arguments on which it is based,
the therapist training scheme, the clinical service model, and a summary of progress to date. At mid-point in a national
roll-out of the programme progress is generally in line with expectation, and a large number of people who would not
otherwise have had the opportunity to receive evidence-based psychological treatment have accessed, and benefited from,
the new IAPT services. Planned future developments and challenges for the programme are briefly described.

Introduction Motivating circumstances

On World Mental Health Day in October 2007 the The IAPT programme had its roots in a wide range
UK government announced a large-scale initiative of clinical and policy developments. However, two
for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies developments deserve particular mention. First,
(IAPT) for depression and anxiety disorders within starting in 2004, NICE systematically reviewed the
the English National Health Service (NHS). Between evidence for the effectiveness of a variety of interven-
2008 and 2011 at least 3,600 new psychological tions for depression and anxiety disorders. These
therapists will have been trained and employed in reviews led to the publication of a series of clinical
new IAPT clinical services offering the evidence- guidelines (NICE, 2004a, 2004b, 2005a, 2005b,
based psychological therapies that are recommended 2006, 2009a, 2009b, 2011) that strongly support the
by the National Institute for Health and Clinical use of certain psychological therapies. CBT is recom-
Excellence (NICE). A further cohort of around 2,400 mended for depression and all the anxiety disorders.
new psychological therapists should be trained Some other therapies (interpersonal psychotherapy,
between 2011 and 2014, so that the services will have behavioural couples therapy, counselling, brief
sufficient therapist capacity to offer treatment to at dynamic therapy) are also recommended (with vary-
least 15% of people in the community with depres- ing indications) for depression, but not for anxiety
sion and/or anxiety disorders. The training follows disorders. In the light of evidence that some indi-
national curricula and initially particularly focused on viduals respond well to ‘low-intensity’ interventions
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as this was where (such as guided self-help and computerized CBT)
the manpower shortage was considered greatest. As NICE also advocates a stepped-care approach to the
the programme matures, training in other NICE rec- delivery of psychological therapies in mild to moder-
ommended treatments for depression is also being ate depression and some anxiety disorders. In mod-
made available. The clinical and other outcomes of erate to severe depression and in some other anxiety
patients who access the services are carefully moni- disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorder)
tored. This article describes the background to the low-intensity interventions are not recommended and
programme, provides an overview of the training ini- instead it is suggested that patients should at once be
tiative and clinical service model, presents a summary offered ‘high-intensity’ face-to-face psychological
of progress to date (early 2011), and anticipates future therapy. Table I summarizes the current NICE
developments. recommendations.

Correspondence: David M. Clark, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK. Tel: ⫹ 44 1865
271424. E-mail: david.clark@psy.ox.ac.uk

(Received 15 June 2011; accepted 18 July 2011)

ISSN 0954–0261 print/ISSN 1369–1627 online © 2011 Institute of Psychiatry
DOI: 10.3109/09540261.2011.606803
 Implementing NICE guidelines: The IAPT experience 319
Table I. Summary of NICE’s recommendations for the psychological treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.

Place in stepped-care service Disorder Recommended intervention

Step 3: High-intensity service Depression: CBT or IPTa, each with medication

(Primarily weekly, face-to-face, one-to-one moderate
sessions with a suitably trained therapist. In some to severe
disorders, such as depression, CBT can also be
delivered effectively to small groups of patients.
Behavioural couples therapy naturally involves the
therapist, the depressed client and his/her partner)
Depression: mild CBT or IPTa
to moderate Behavioural activation (BA)a,b
Behavioural couples therapy (if the patient has a
partner, the relationship is considered to be
contributing to the maintenance of the depression,
and both parties wish to work together in therapy)
Counsellinga or short-term psychodynamic therapya
(consider if patient has declined CBT, IPT, BA,
or behavioural couples therapy)
Panic disorder CBT
Generalized anxiety CBT
disorder (GAD)
Post-traumatic CBT, EMDR
stress disorder
(PTSD)
Social phobia CBT
Obsessive - CBT
compulsive
disorder (OCD)
Step 2: Low-intensity service Depression Guided self-help based on CBT, cCBT, behavioural
(Less intensive clinician input than the high activation, structured physical activity
intensity service. Patients are typically encouraged
to work through some form of self-help
programme with frequent, brief guidance and
encouragement from a PWP who acts as a coach)
Panic disorder Self-help based on CBT, cCBT
GAD Self-help based on CBT, psycho-educational
groups, computerized CBT
PTSD n/ac
Social phobia n/a
OCD Guided self-help based on CBT
Step 1: Primary care Moderate to severe Collaborative care (consider if depression has not
depression with a responded to initial course of high intensity
chronic physical intervention and/or medication)
health problem

PWP, Psychological wellbeing practitioner; CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy; cCBT, computerized cognitive behavioural therapy; IPT,
interpersonal therapy; EMDR, eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy (considered by many to be a form of CBT); Behavioural
activation is a variant of CBT; Active monitoring includes careful monitoring of symptoms, psycho-education about the disorder and sleep
hygiene advice.
NICE has not yet issued guidance on the treatment of social phobia. However, there is a substantial body of evidence supporting the
effectiveness of high-intensity CBT. Low intensity versions of CBT are being developed by several groups around the world and it seems
likely that they will play a useful role in the future.
aNICE’s recent (NICE, 2009a, 2009b) updates on the treatment of depression come in two parts: recommendations for the treatment of

‘depression’ and recommendations for the treatment of ‘depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem’. The two guidelines
are very similar. However, it should be noted that the ‘depression with a physical health problem’ guideline does not recommend IPT,
behavioural activation, counselling or brief dynamic therapy as high-intensity interventions.
bAlthough the recent update of the NICE guideline for depression (NICE, 2009a) recommends behavioural activation for the treatment

of mild to moderate depression, it notes that the evidence base is not as strong as for CBT or IPT.
cNICE does not recommend any low-intensity interventions for PTSD and recommends that you do NOT offer psychological debriefing.

In the second development, economists and clin- enues (taxes from return to work, increased
ical researchers combined resources to argue that productivity, etc.). This argument was advanced in
an increase in access to psychological therapies academic articles (e.g. Layard et al., 2007), but also
would largely pay for itself by reducing other in the more populist pamphlets such as The Depres-
depression- and anxiety-related public costs (wel- sion Report (Layard et al., 2006) and We need to Talk
fare benefits and medical costs) and increasing rev- (Mind, 2010) (a report sponsored by numerous
320 D. M. Clark
mental health and other charities). The latter were psychological treatments in depression and anxiety dis-
widely distributed to the public and to policy mak- orders, both demonstration sites agreed to adopt a
ers. For example, The Depression Report was included session-by-session outcome monitoring system that
in every copy of a national newspaper (the Observer had demonstrated its worth in achieving high levels of
newspaper) on Sunday 18 June 2006. pre/post-treatment data completeness in community
The UK Government was receptive to the recom- samples (Gillespie et al., 2002). At every clinical contact
mendations of NICE and to the broader arguments patients were asked to complete simple measures of
advanced in The Depression Report and elsewhere. A depression (PHQ-9: Kroenke et al., 2001) and anxious
general political commitment to increase the avail- affect (GAD-7: Spitzer et al., 2006). If specific anxiety
ability of evidence-based psychological treatments disorders (for example, agoraphobia, social phobia,
was secured in 2005. However, before any decisions OCD, PTSD) were being treated, patients were also
about the scale and form of the increase could be encouraged to complete a validated measure of that
established, the government wisely decided to fund disorder (for example, the Revised Impact of Events
two pilot projects that would test whether the out- Scale in PTSD:Weiss & Marmar, 1997).This is because
comes that one would expect from implementing the GAD-7 does not cover key features of specific anx-
NICE guidelines could be achieved in practice if a iety disorders such as phobic avoidance, compulsive
local area was given increased funding to recruit behaviour and intrusive thoughts, images or impulses.
and deploy additional psychological therapists. Since the creation of the NHS in 1948, most
patients who received specialist psychological ther-
apy had to be referred by their general practitioner
Doncaster and Newham demonstration sites (GP), partly to help constrain NHS costs. However,
there was some concern that requiring patients to be
In 2006 the National Health Service (NHS) in Eng-
referred by a GP might be seen as an impediment to
land comprised 154 primary care trusts (PCTs),
access for some members of the community. For this
each of which had responsibility for the health care
reason, the demonstration sites were allowed to also
of its local population. Two PCTs (Doncaster and
accept self-referrals as an experiment to see whether
Newham) were chosen as pilot sites (termed ‘dem-
it identified people with mental health problems who
onstration sites’ by the Department of Health). Full
would not otherwise have access to services.
details of the clinical services that were developed in
The main findings from the first year of operation
the two demonstrations sites and the outcomes they
of the two demonstration sites were as follows:
obtained in their first year can be found in Clark
et al. (2009) and Richards & Suckling (2009).
Briefly, each demonstration site received substan- Clinical problems
tial funds to recruit and deploy an expanded work-
force of CBT-focused psychological therapists. The two sites saw somewhat different populations.
Doncaster had been pioneering the use of low-inten- Although Doncaster did not use formal diagnoses, GP
sity therapies (especially guided self-help) and chose referral letters mentioned depression as the main
to particularly expand the work force that delivered problem in 95% of cases. In the remaining 5% anxiety
these treatments, although some additional capacity was mentioned as the main problem, mainly GAD
to deliver high-intensity interventions (face-to-face (3.9%). Newham established International Classification
CBT) was also developed. Many of the guided self- of Diseases (ICD-10) diagnoses. Main problems were:
help sessions were delivered over the telephone. As depression (46% of patients), anxiety disorders (43%)
low-intensity interventions and stepped care are not and other problems (11%).
recommended by NICE for PTSD, the Doncaster
site excluded this anxiety disorder but encouraged
Numbers seen
referrals for other anxiety disorders, as well as depres-
sion. Newham initially placed greater emphasis on Taken together, the two sites saw an impressively large
high-intensity CBT, although it also operated a number of people (over 3,500) in the first year, with
stepped-care model when appropriate, using a newly the use of low-intensity therapies and stepped care
recruited workforce of low-intensity therapists (sub- being the key ingredients for managing large numbers.
sequently called psychological wellbeing practitio- For this reason, as the year progressed the Newham
ners or PWPs). The low intensity therapies included site increased the size of its PWP workforce.
computerized CBT (cCBT), guided self-help and
psycho-educational groups.
Data completeness
In order to determine whether the demonstration
sites were able to achieve the outcomes one might The session-by-session outcome monitoring system
expect from the randomized controlled trials that ensured that almost all (over 99% for Doncaster and
led to NICE’s recommendations for the use of 88% for Newham) patients who received at least two
 Implementing NICE guidelines: The IAPT experience 321
sessions had pre- and post-treatment PHQ-9 and Importantly, self-referrals more accurately tracked
GAD-7 scores. For patients who discontinued therapy the ethic mix of the community (minorities were
earlier than expected, the scores from the last available under-represented among GP referrals) and had
session were used as post-treatment scores. As well as higher rates of PTSD and social phobia, both condi-
the new session-by-session outcome monitoring tions that traditionally tend to be under-recognized.
scheme, the sites also obtained outcome data on the These findings led the government to include self-
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome referral in the subsequent national roll-out.
Measure (Barkham et al., 2001) using a more conven-
tional pre and post-treatment only data collection pro-
Outcomes
tocol. As is usual in community samples, this protocol
produced a much lower data completeness rate (6% in The high level of data completeness on the PHQ-9
Doncaster, 54% in Newham), mainly due to missing and GAD-7 made it possible to accurately assess any
post-treatment scores. Figure 1 shows the mean improve- clinical improvements that patients achieved while
ments in depression (assessed by the PHQ-9) and being treated in the demonstration sites. All patients
anxiety (assessed by the GAD-7) in patients treated who received at least two sessions (including assess-
in Newham who did, and did not, provide post- ment) were included in the analysis, irrespective of
treatment data on the conventional (CORE-OM-based) whether they were coded as completers or drop-outs
outcome monitoring protocol. Patients who failed to by their therapist. As a group, patients treated in both
provide post-treatment data in the conventional system sites showed meaningful improvements (pre/post-
showed less than half of the improvement of those who treatment uncontrolled effect sizes of 0.98–1.26).
provided post-treatment data (Clark et al., 2009). This Individuals were considered clinically recovered if
leads to the conclusion that services that have substan- they scored above the clinical cut-off on the PHQ
tial missing data rates are likely to overestimate their and/or the GAD at pre-treatment and below the
effectiveness. For this reason, session-by-session out- clinical cut-off on both at post-treatment. Using this
come monitoring was adopted in the subsequent criterion, 55% (Newham) and 56% (Doncaster) of
national roll-out of IAPT (see below). patients recovered. Self-referrers and patients from
ethnic minorities were no less likely to recover than
(respectively) GP referrals and Caucasians.
Self-referral versus GP referral The economic argument for IAPT (Layard et al.,
Newham, which has a mixed ethnic community, 2007) was based on the assumption that clinical
made extensive use of self-referral. Comparisons improvement would be sustained and that treatment
of self-referred and GP-referred patients indicated would improve peoples’ employment status as well
that the self-referrers had similarly high PHQ-9 and as symptoms. To assess whether clinical improve-
GAD-7 scores as the GPs’, referrals but tended (non- ments were sustained, patients in both sites were
significantly) to have had their problem longer. asked to re-complete the outcome measures 9 months
(on average) after discharge. Unfortunately, data
completeness at follow-up (36% in Newham and
Pre-post complete 51% in Doncaster) was much lower than at post-
Post missing treatment (88% and 99% respectively). However,
among those people who did provide data, the gains
10 that were achieved in therapy were largely main-
tained. To assess employment changes, pre-treatment
8
and post-treatment employment status was com-
pared. It had been assumed that IAPT services would
Improvement

6
achieve an overall improvement in employment sta-
tus in 4% of the total treated cohort (Layard et al.,
4
2007). The observed rate was 5%.
Although the outcomes observed in the demon-
2
stration sites were broadly in line with expectation,
it is important to realize that the sites were not set
0
PHQ GAD up as randomized controlled trials and it is likely that
some of the observed improvement would have
Figure 1. Improvement in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores between happened anyway (for example, natural recovery).
initial assessment (pre-) and last available session (post-) in people
Various studies suggest that natural recovery rates
who either completed both the pre- and post-treatment CORE-
OM or who failed to complete the CORE-OM at post. Data from over a period of time that is similar to the duration
the Newham Demonstration site. Figure derived from Clark et al. of IAPT treatment are high among recent onset (⬍ 6
(2009). months) cases of depression and anxiety disorders
322 D. M. Clark
but are substantially lower among more chronic CBT, as (1) it is recommended by NICE for both
cases. Building on this observation, Clark et al. (2009) depression and anxiety disorders, and (2) it is the
separately computed the recovery rates for recent therapy where the manpower shortage was consid-
onset and chronic cases. Most cases (83% in ered to be greatest.
Newham, 66% in Doncaster) had been depressed or Targets were set for the number of patients that
anxious for over 6 months and it seemed safe to con- would be seen by the services in the first three years
clude that treatment had provided added benefit to and there was an expectation that 50% would ‘move
this group as the recovery rates (52% at each site) to recovery’ in terms of their symptomatology. In
comfortably exceeded the 5–20% one might expect addition, it was expected that 25,000 fewer people
from natural recovery or minimal intervention. How- would be on sick pay or receiving state benefits.
ever, among the minority of cases with a recent onset, At least 20 of England’s 154 PCTs were expected
it was not possible to exclude the possibility that to establish new ‘IAPT’ services during the first year
much of the improvement may have been due to (2008/09), with further PCTs joining in future
natural recovery (see Clark et al., 2009). years.
In order to realize these goals, the Department of
Health established a series of expert groups that
Description of the national programme helped devise the necessary training programme and
specified key features of the IAPT clinical services.
Initial funding, goals and targets
A large number of documents providing guidance to
Following the success of the Newham and Doncaster courses and PCTs were produced, most of which can
demonstration sites and the submission of a detailed be viewed on the IAPT website (http://www.iapt.nhs.
business case, which included reviews of controlled uk). Table II lists the key documents, including the
evaluations of CBT in depression and anxiety disor- national IAPT Implementation Plan (Department of
ders, the UK Government announced that it intended Health, 2008).
to greatly increase the availability of evidence-based During the first two years, all funds were held cen-
psychological therapies for depression and anxiety trally by the Department of Health and distributed
disorders throughout England through a phased roll- through England’s ten strategic health authorities
out that would last several years. Funding for the first (SHAs), who commissioned appropriate regional
three years was announced: year 1 £33 million, year training courses and selected the PCTs that would
2 an additional £70 million on top of the year 1 sum receive the new trainees and other resources needed
(which had become recurrent), year 3 an additional to set up a new IAPT service. Rather than place a
£70 million on top of the year 1 and 2 sums. Total few trainees to each PCT, it was decided to initially
over 3 years: £309 million. allocate a substantial number of trainees to a few
The funding was allocated to train up to 3,600 PCTs (early adopters) who would then have the
new psychological therapists (60% high-intensity resources to create a service with sufficient capacity
CBT therapists, 40% PWPs) and to deploy them, ensure patients are seen promptly. During the third
along with existing experienced clinicians, in new year, the principle for distributing funds changed and
psychological treatment services for depression and much of the money for IAPT went into the general
anxiety disorders that operate on stepped-care prin- bundle of funds that PCTs receive to finance all of
ciples. The training programme initially focused on their healthcare work.

Table II. Key IAPT reference documents (available at http://www.

iapt.nhs.uk) with publication dates in parentheses, when relevant. Training
IAPT Implementation Plan: National Guidelines for Regional In order to guide the training of the new workforce,
Delivery (February 2008) the Department of Health commissioned and dis-
IAPT Implementation Plan: Curriculum for High-Intensity Workers
IAPT Implementation Plan: Curriculum for Low-Intensity Workers
tributed separate national curricula for the training
IAPT Impact Assessment (February 2008) of high-intensity CBT therapists and PWPs. As the
IAPT Equality Impact Assessment (February 2008) main aim of the IAPT programme is to increase the
IAPT Supervision Guidance availability of treatments recommended by NICE,
IAPT Commissioning Toolkit (April 2008) the high-intensity CBT curriculum is closely aligned
Realising the Benefits: IAPT at Full Roll-Out (February 2010)
The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2011/12
to the particular CBT programmes that had been
No Health Without Mental Health (February 2011) shown to be effective in the RCTs that contributed
Talking Therapies: A Four Year Plan (February 2011) to NICE’s recommendations. A wide range of gen-
Which Talking Therapy for Depression? (March 2011) eral CBT assessment and intervention strategies are
Commissioning Talking Therapies for 2011/12 (March 2011) included in the curriculum. In addition, trainees are
IAPT Data Handbook 2 (June 2011)
required to be taught at least two evidence-based
 Implementing NICE guidelines: The IAPT experience 323
treatments for depression (cognitive therapy and principles for the operation of the services while leav-
behavioural activation) and at least one specific, evi- ing considerable scope for local determination. The
dence-based treatment for each anxiety disorder. In key principles include:
panic disorder, examples include Barlow and col-
• Access to the service through self-referral as well
leagues’ CBT programme (Barlow and Craske, 2007)
as referral by general practitioner.
and Clark and colleagues’ cognitive therapy pro-
• A person-centred assessment that identifies the
gramme (Clark and Salkovskis, in press). In PTSD,
key problems that require treatment and their
examples include Foa’s imaginal reliving (Foa &
social and personal context. Goals for therapy are
Rothbaum, 1998), Ehlers and Clark’s cognitive therapy
identified and a treatment plan is jointly agreed.
(Ehlers & Clark, 2000; Clark & Ehlers, 2004), and
• Stepped care in which many people with mild to
Resick’s cognitive processing therapy (Resick et al.,
moderate depression or anxiety disorders are
2007). Roth and Pilling (2008) developed a compe-
offered treatment with a PWP initially. Many peo-
tency framework for many of the leading empirically
ple recover with such treatment. Individuals who
supported CBT treatments for depression and anxi-
do not should be offered a further course of high
ety disorders, and the high-intensity curriculum aims
intensity treatment. For people with more severe
to ensure that these are covered in IAPT training
depression or anxiety and for everyone with PTSD,
programmes. In addition to specifying the skills that
immediate high-intensity treatment is recom-
trainees should acquire, the curriculum also specifies
mended. All treatments that are offered should be
how these skills should be assessed (through a mix-
in line with NICE recommendations.
ture of ratings of actual therapy sessions using the
• Access to an employment adviser if employment
revised version of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale
(lack of, or danger of losing) is an issue. Services
(CTS-R) (Blackburn et al., 2001) and written assign-
are encouraged to involve employment advisers in
ments in the form of case reports and essays).
treatment plans from the very beginning as making
A separate curriculum was issued for PWP train-
progress with employment issues can greatly facil-
ing. The four sections of the curriculum cover: (1)
itate psychological recovery and visa versa.
engagement and assessment, (2) evidence-based low
• Use of the IAPT minimum dataset (see IAPT Data
intensity treatments, (3) values, policy, culture and
Handbook 2 for full details: Department of Health
diversity, (4) working within an employment, social
2011c). This includes giving the PHQ-9 and
and healthcare context. As low-intensity working is
GAD-7 every session along with some other patient
relatively new, there are few published therapist man-
self-report measures that focus on specific anxiety
uals. To redress this shortfall, a substantial set of
disorders, when these are relevant. All data is
teaching aids developed by David Richards (one of
entered into an electronic database that enables
the pioneers of low-intensity work) and his colleagues
therapists and their supervisors to monitor patients’
were produced to supplement the curriculum. As
progress and adjust treatment plans, if required.
with the high-intensity curriculum, assessment pro-
• All therapists should receive weekly outcome-
cedures are also specified, with particular emphasis
informed supervision which ensures that all cases
being placed on structured role-plays covering a wide
are discussed at regular intervals and decisions
range of different skills.
about step-up/step-down are made in a timely
Both the high-intensity CBT and the PWP train-
fashion (see IAPT Supervision Guidance).
ing programmes are conceived as joint university and
• Because of the importance of obtaining outcome
in-service training. Over a period of approximately 1
data on almost all patients who receive treatment,
year high-intensity trainees attend a university-based
the services are asked to ensure that at least 90% of
course for lectures, workshops and case supervision
patients who are seen at least twice in a service have
two days a week, while PWPs attend university for
a pre-treatment and post-treatment (or last avail-
one day per week. For the rest of their time, both sets
able session) score on the main outcome measures.
of trainees work in an IAPT service where they
For patients who exceed the clinical cut-off for
receive further regular supervision. The services are
depression and/or anxiety at pre-treatment, ‘recov-
also encouraged to provide the trainees with the
ery’ is operationalized as moving to below the
opportunity of directly observing therapy sessions
clinical cut-off for both depression and anxiety at
conducted by experienced staff who work in the
post-treatment.
service.

IAPT service model Progress to date

A general framework for IAPT services was outlined At the time of writing (Spring 2011), the IAPT pro-
in the national Implementation Plan (Department of gramme is midway through its third year. Progress
Health, 2008). The framework specifies several key to date includes:
324 D. M. Clark
• IAPT services have been established in 95% of conditions, it was difficult to assess equity of access
PCTs. However, there is wide variation in the accurately as for 39% of patients an ICD diagnosis
number of therapists employed in the services and, was not recorded. However, among the 61% for
as a consequence, they vary substantially in the whom diagnoses were recorded, there was an over-
number of patients that they are able to see. It is representation of patients with depression or mixed
therefore calculated that only around 60% of the anxiety and depressive disorder (MADD), compared
population has access to an IAPT service. For this to prevalence rates found in epidemiological studies.
reason, there is a need to further expand the ser- There was also under-representation of patients with
vices in coming years (see later section on future persistent anxiety disorders, such as PTSD, OCD,
developments). panic disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia, as less
• Over 3,660 new high-intensity therapists and than 10% of patients had these diagnoses, whereas
PWPs have been appointed and will have com- around a third of patients should have these disor-
pleted their training by the end of the year. ders if access was equitable (see McManus et al.,
• The IAPT services are currently seeing around 2009).
310,000 patients per annum and aim to see around The first report also found that the majority of
900,000 per annum by 2015 when the roll-out of patients received NICE-compliant treatment. The
the programme should be complete. NICE-recommended low-intensity interventions that
• National data collected at the end of the second were provided included guided self-help, psycho-
year of the programme showed that it is on target education groups, behavioural activation, cCBT and
in terms of the number of people seen (399,460 structured exercise. NICE-recommends CBT as a
compared to a target of 400,000), the number of high-intensity psychological therapy for depression
people who have moved off sick pay and/or state and for all the anxiety disorders that are currently
benefits (13,962 compared to a target of 11,100) covered by guidelines. In line with this recommenda-
and has recovery rates which are approaching tion, almost everyone with a recorded diagnosis of
expectation (an average of 40% compared to a tar- social phobia, specific phobia, agoraphobia, or OCD
get of 50%). received CBT. For patients with a recorded diagnosis
of GAD or PTSD, CBT was also the most commonly
provided treatment. However, a significant number
of patients received counselling, which is not recom-
Lessons from the first phase of the
mended by NICE for these conditions. For patients
implementation
with a recorded diagnosis of depression, CBT and
In addition to the broad performance figures given counselling were equally likely to be offered and both
above, the Department of Health has released two are recommended by NICE, although counselling
reports that provide more detailed analysis of the has a more restricted recommendation in terms of
national IAPT programme during its first year of the range of cases for which it is considered relevant
operation (1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009). (see Table I). Turning to clinical outcomes, a recov-
During this period 35 PCTs established an IAPT ery rate of 42% was observed among suitable patients
service, 32 of whom provided data for analysis. who were likely to have received at least some treat-
The first report (Glover et al., 2010) particularly ment (defined as having at least two sessions on the
focused on issues to do with equity of access, descrip- assumption that the first session was always assess-
tions of the treatments offered, and overall outcome. ment). However, there was considerable variability in
With respect to equity of access, both genders were recovery rates between sites.
fairly represented in the year one IAPT services. The The second report (Gyani et al., 2011) explored
most recent Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey the observed variability in recovery rates in further
(McManus et al., 2007) shows that 61% of people in detail in order to identify site and other characteris-
the community with a common mental disorder are tics that were associated with higher recovery rates.
female, which was very similar to the rate in IAPT The analyses focused on patients who were clinical
services (66% female). However, people over 65 cases on entry into the service, had received at least
years old and people from black and minority ethnic two sessions and had completed their involvement
(BME) groups were somewhat underrepresented. with the services. Pre- to post-treatment data com-
Part of the reason for the latter finding may have pleteness for these patients was good (⬎ 90%). The
been the slow development of a self-referral route findings, which are briefly summarized below, gener-
into the services. Clark et al. (2009) found that self- ally support the IAPT clinical model and highlight
referral produces a more equitable pattern of access the value of following NICE guidelines.
for different ethnic groups but only 10% of patients Patients had a higher chance of meeting recovery
came through self-referral (compared to 21% in the criteria if they were treated at sites that had the fol-
Newham demonstration site). Looking at clinical lowing characteristics:
 Implementing NICE guidelines: The IAPT experience 325
• Higher step-up rates from low-intensity to high- No Health Without Mental Health (Department of
intensity therapy among those who had failed to Health, 2011a) and in the accompanying document
respond adequately to the former (i.e. the services entitled Talking Therapies: Four Year Plan of Action
were making good use of stepped care). (Department of Health, 2011b).
• Higher average numbers of therapy sessions at low Briefly, a major component of the next phase is
intensity and at high-intensity (highlighting the completion of the roll-out of IAPT services for adults.
importance of providing an adequate dose of This will require the training of a further 2,400 new
treatment). high-intensity and PWP therapists. At the same time,
continuing professional development (CPD) short
Although most patients received NICE recom- courses will be used to further enhance and update
mended treatments, for some clinical conditions a sig- existing clinicians’ skills in non-CBT therapies that
nificant minority of patients received a treatment not are recommended by NICE for the treatment of mild
recommended by NICE. This created a natural to moderate depression, in order to widen patient
experiment in which it was possible to assess whether choice for evidence-based treatments within IAPT
deviation from NICE recommendations was associated services. The CPD courses are aligned to national
with a reduction in recovery rates. One of the natural curricula and published competencies (available at
experiments concerned the contrast between CBT and www.iapt.nhs.uk) and cover interpersonal psycho-
counselling. For depression NICE recommends both therapy, couples therapy, a form of brief psychody-
treatments for mild to moderate cases. Consistent with namic therapy (dynamic interpersonal therapy) and
this recommendation, there was no difference in the counselling.
recovery rates associated with CBT and counselling A challenge for the completion of the programme
among patients with a diagnosis of depression. In con- is a change in the way in which the funding for the
trast to the recommendations for depression, NICE training and new posts will be managed. In the first
does not recommend counselling for the treatment of two years of the programme, all funds were centrally
GAD. Consistent with this position, CBT was held and ring-fenced. It was therefore possible to
associated with a higher recovery rate than counselling ensure that they were exclusively spent on the IAPT
among patients with a diagnosis of GAD. A further workforce. In year three (2010/11) a significant pro-
natural experiment concerned the contrast between portion of the funds were allocated within general
guided self-help and pure (non-guided) self-help. NHS budgets (technically termed ‘PCT baseline
NICE only recommends guided self-help in depression. funding’) as are the funds for most mainstream NHS
Consistent with this position, guided self-help was activities. Unfortunately, there is evidence that some
associated with a higher recovery rate than pure of this money was not spent on IAPT, although the
self-help among patients with a diagnosis of depression. numbers of new trainees in that year remained on
Taken together, these findings would appear to support target. In the next phase, almost all funds will be
the value of aligning clinical interventions with NICE allocated within general NHS training and PCT
guidance. However, this conclusion needs to be treated budgets and there is a risk that some geographical
with caution as these ‘natural experiments’ are not areas will invest less in IAPT than expected. To mit-
randomized clinical trials. igate this risk, the Department of Health has spe-
A final variable considered in the second report cifically highlighted the importance of IAPT by
was initial severity. Patients with higher initial depres- including it for the first time in The Operating Frame-
sion or anxiety scores were less likely to meet recov- work for the NHS (Department of Health, 2010). To
ery criteria (dropping below the clinical/non-clinical assist local commissioners in their decision making,
threshold) at the end of treatment, but their overall a guidance document that highlights the value of
amount of symptomatic improvement was at least as extending IAPT has been issued. Commissioning Talk-
large as that observed in milder cases. This suggests ing Therapies for 2011/12 (Department of Health,
that the IAPT services are beneficial for individuals 2011d) outlines the major savings in other costs to
with a wide range of symptom severity. the NHS and to society that can be realized by
increasing the availability of evidence-based psycho-
logical treatments for depression and anxiety disor-
ders. One of the NHS savings relates to the medical
Future development of the programme
treatment of chronic physical health problems, such
Following the success of the first three years of the as coronary heart disease, obstructive pulmonary
IAPT programme, the government announced in disease and diabetes, all of which are more costly to
February 2011 a further NHS investment of £400 medically manage when a person is also depressed.
million to complete and extend the programme over A further challenge concerns the relationship
the period 2011–2015. Full details of the next phase between IAPT and other NHS mental health ser-
can be found in the mental health policy entitled vices. The decision to deploy the IAPT workforce in
326 D. M. Clark
new services was important in order to ensure con- controlled trials that generated the NICE recom-
sistency of the training experience and clinical super- mendations. As expected, gains in terms of employ-
vision, compliance to NICE guidance, and high ment and reductions in state benefits have also been
levels of data completeness. However, it is also impor- observed. Lessons from the early phases of the pro-
tant that the new services are well integrated with gramme suggest ways in which less well performing
other NHS provision for mental health problems. services may evolve to achieve the outcomes shown
For this to happen, local areas need to develop coher- by the best services (which are in line with, or
ent care pathways that provide clarity about who exceed expectation). In the meantime, the extremely
should be seen, by which service, at which point in high levels of data completeness achieved by IAPT
their care. Transition between services should be has brought greater transparency to mental health
facilitated, whenever it is appropriate. It is essential services and helped clinicians and commissioners to
that commissioners understand what their local identify both areas of excellence and areas that
IAPT service can, and cannot, offer when consider- require further attention as the NHS strives to
ing any reorganization of other services so they do further improve the care it offers people with
not inadvertently reduce provision for individuals depression and anxiety disorders.
with some conditions or complexities whose care is
best provided elsewhere.
Reporting on the performance of IAPT services Declaration of interest: The views expressed by
will also be enhanced in the next phase in order to the author are personal and are not necessarily the
provide clinicians with valuable information that they same those of the Department of Health. D.M.C.
can use to further develop the accessibility and effec- acknowledges the support of the Wellcome Trust
tiveness of their IAPT services, as well as increasing (Grant 069777) and the NIHR Biomedical Research
transparency for commissioners and the public. Centre at the South London & Maudsley NHS
A new feature of the next phase will be the creation Foundation Trust and Kings College London, UK.
of a version of the IAPT programme for children and The author alone is responsible for the content and
young people. Many of the anxiety disorders that are writing of the paper.
seen in adult services start in adolescence or earlier and
can severely interfere with social and educational
development. For this reason it is important to make References
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