Psychological Therapies Waiting Times in NHS Scotland – Report Publication
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Psychological Therapies Waiting Times in NHS Scotland – Report Publication Quarter Ending 31 March 2021 Publication date: 1 June 2021 An Official Statistics release for Scotland Public Health Scotland This is an Official Statistics publication The Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008 authorises Public Health Scotland (formerly NHS National Services Scotland (the legal name being the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service)) to produce official statistics. All official statistics should comply with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice which promotes the production and dissemination of official statistics that inform decision making. They can be formally assessed by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm for National Statistics status. Find out more about the Code of Practice at: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/code-of-practice/ Find out more about official statistics at: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/producers-of-official-statistics/ 2 Public Health Scotland Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4 Main points ............................................................................................................................... 6 How long people waited to start their treatment (Patients Seen) .......................................... 7 People waiting for treatment at the end of the quarter ........................................................ 11 Number of people referred for Psychological Therapies ..................................................... 16 Distribution of Waiting Times .............................................................................................. 20 People aged 65 and over ................................................................................................... 24 Impact of COVID-19 ........................................................................................................... 26 Contact ................................................................................................................................... 32 Further Information ................................................................................................................ 32 Open data .............................................................................................................................. 32 Rate this publication ............................................................................................................... 32 Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 33 Appendix 1 – Child, Adolescent, and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) ........................................................................................................................................... 33 Appendix 2 – Publication Metadata .................................................................................... 45 Appendix 3 – Early access details ...................................................................................... 48 Appendix 4 – PHS and Official Statistics ............................................................................ 49 3 Public Health Scotland Introduction Psychological Therapies refer to a range of interventions, based on psychological concepts and theory, which are designed to help people understand and make changes to their thinking, behaviour and relationships in order to relieve distress and to improve functioning. The standard applies specifically to Psychological Therapies for treatment of a mental illness or disorder. The systems for collecting data locally are still being developed, and as a result, some people who had treatment for Psychological Therapies are not included in this publication. However, the information in this publication does give a good indication of waiting times in most areas of Scotland. The volume of information we have been able to collect from NHS Boards has increased each quarter and we expect this to continue to increase in coming months. The Psychological Therapies LDP, Guidance and Scenarios document was updated in May 2019 to reinforce clarity for Boards on the scope of the standard and how to interpret a wide range of scenarios. The revised guidance was issued to Boards and made available on the PHS website at Standard Definitions Further information on Psychological Therapies can be found in the background information. This Publication This publication contains information about how long people waited to start treatment for Psychological Therapies provided by the NHS in Scotland. This information has been published quarterly since August 2013. The information in this publication covers the period January to March 2021. The Scottish Government requires the NHS in Scotland to measure the time people wait for treatment and this includes people waiting for Psychological Therapies. The Scottish Government has set a standard for the NHS in Scotland to deliver a maximum wait of 18 weeks from a patient’s referral to treatment for Psychological Therapies from December 2014. Following the conclusion of previously planned work on a tolerance level for Psychological Therapies waiting times and engagement with NHS Boards and other stakeholders, the Scottish Government has determined that the Psychological Therapies standard should be delivered for at least 90% of patients. This standard includes Psychological Therapies as defined above. These include Psychological Therapies listed in ‘The Matrix: A guide to delivering evidence based Psychological Therapies in Scotland’ at www.nes.scot.nhs.uk and also those not listed but which clinicians decide are the most appropriate treatment to meet a patient’s needs. The standard applies: where the therapy is delivered to individuals or groups on a face-to-face 4 Public Health Scotland basis, by staff trained to recognised standards, operating under appropriate supervision, in dedicated/ focused sessions; where the therapy is delivered through family, health and/or care staff who are being trained or supported to deliver a particular intervention to a named patient/client; to all ages (including CAMH services); in inpatient as well as community settings; in physical health settings where there is associated mental illness such as depression or anxiety, for example chronic pain and cancer; for substance misuse where there is associated mental illness; and for learning disabilities where there is associated mental illness. This publication also includes information on Psychological Therapy referrals and waiting times for people aged 65 and over. NHS 24 data from the Living Life Service is included in the publication; more information on this service can be found here. This data is only available at NHS Scotland level. There will be differences in the measures used and collection methods of Psychological Therapies waiting times statistics, as well as differences in service structures between the administrations. The different datasets will not be strictly comparable. However, PHS (formerly ISD) working with colleagues in Boards reviewed the definitions and recording guidance. Clarification was issued in April 2019 and all Boards are expected to ensure they are following this guidance when recording the data. Included in the publication for the first time is developmental referral data from the new Child, Adolescent, and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) database. Public Health Scotland is currently working with all NHS Boards to put in place a robust collection that will provide data at an individual patient level. CAPTND data are still at a developmental stage therefore any inferences or conclusions from this analysis should be treated with caution. These data relate to the period January 2020 to March 2021 and so reflect lockdown measures during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is likely that the successive lockdowns will have reduced the number of people being referred to mental health services. For reasons highlighted in Appendix 2 this data is not comparable to the Referrals section of the aggregate report. This data can be found in Appendix 1. More information on standard definitions and guidance can be found here. Users need to carefully read the publications when making comparisons. More information on the data quality can be found in the Data Quality document. All revisions are highlighted in Appendix 2. Footnotes relating to the data are located within the Excel support file NHS Boards made changes to their service delivery in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19-19 pandemic. All NHS Boards have advised that the measures put in place have had an impact on their figures. More5 information can be found in the Data Quality document. Public Health Scotland Main points For the quarter ending March 2021: • 18,030 people started psychological therapies treatment in NHS Boards and NHS 24. This is an increase of 5.9% (1,007) from the previous quarter, and a decrease of 1.3% (238) from the same quarter the previous year. Half of the people started their treatment within 3 weeks. • Four out of five (80.4%) people started their treatment within 18 weeks, compared to 80.0% for the previous quarter, and 77.6% for the quarter ending March 2020. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of people should start their treatment within 18 weeks of referral to psychological