Routine outcomes monitoring as part of children and young people’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) – improving care or unhelpful burden?
Miranda Wolpert, Andrew J.B. Fugard, Jessica Deighton & Anke Gorzig
Abstract
This brief commentary article considers the implications of intensive outcome monitoring which is central to children and young people’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) in England and Wales. Services are being provided with a range of free software solutions to enable data collection, and guidance on interpretation of the measures, but there will still be some burden of data entry and collation for already overstretched services. It may be that the utility of the feedback will go some way to offset the sense of burden but this remains to be seen. Whether commissioners and others will rise to the challenge of supporting this aspect may prove crucial to the success or otherwise of such intensive ROM use. Many aspects of the CYP IAPT approach are new and whilst drawing on experience from earlier pilots of session by session monitoring in CAMHS both in the UK and abroad, and from Adult IAPT, there is likely to be much for us to learn. Time will tell whether the approach helps to improve the care children and young people receive but we are cautiously optimistic.
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