Improving access to psychological therapies

The evidence associated with the programme was important in raising the issue of need and making it a priority concern. Often we think of using evidence to plan specific interventions or services, but in this instance evidence changed the way people understood the problem.

The guidelines published in 2004 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence were a key framework for treating anxiety and depression. They provided a systematic codification of the evidence to guide service development and clinical practice.

The improving access to psychological therapies programme was founded on evidence of need and models of service delivery and the best interventions. Throughout the development of the programme's work, from pilot sites, through further, pathfinder sites, to a nationwide development of services, a sustained interaction with evidence has been central to its thinking and working.

To support the programme in delivery of this evidence, an expert advisory group was established from the beginning. The purpose of this was to provide a forum for drawing together and discussing the implications of the diverse evidence related to delivering better access to psychological therapies.

The expertise on this group served to remind those working in the programme of the evidence base, and helps them to interpret specific issues facing the programme as it works to convert evidence into practice. Such issues included the detail of service models and implications for workforce development.

It is important to understand that the advisory group has been, and continues to be, a focal point in the programme for an interaction between research, policy and practice to ensure the best evidence-based evolution of the programme.

Bringing together evidence from each perspective into a forum for analysis and discussion has been important for informing policy development, service models, practice and further research.