I was interested to read John Henderson's letter (13 August) on waiting list management in child and adolescent mental health services.

My own profession of clinical psychology has, over the past 10 years, researched a number of different approaches to the problem. The research has all been published in our professional journal, Clinical Psychology Forum, published by the British Psychological Society. Approaches have included management of referral input, the care process, throughput and discharge thresholds. Examples include opt-in systems, splitting assessment from treatment, brief therapy, improving patient compliance and looking at new or different care options.

Readers may wish to ask their local clinical psychology service for copies of this research. Or, they can contact me for a copy of the waiting list management reference list that I produced.

WM Jellema

Clinical psychology manger (mental health)

Durham County Priority Services trust

Maiden Law Hospital

Lanchester

Co Durham

Tel 01207 - 214795