Ultrasis Interactive Healthcare fka LSE:ULT

[woolworth]

Australian GP Network.

Australian General Practice Network Submission to the 2010-2011 Federal Budget.

Models of stepped care have been trialled in New Zealand and the United Kingdom (e.g. the Doncaster Model) with promising results30, 31. An Australian trial, The beyondblue Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Study, has also been started by the Northern Rivers Division of General Practice with funding from beyondblue. A UK pilot was established in Doncaster, a socially and economically disadvantaged city in northern England. The results from 4,000 patients have recently been formally reported: the combined remission and recovery rates were 76 percent for depression, 74 percent for anxiety; the mean number of treatment sessions were 5.15 in a mean time of two hours 45 minutes. On average at least three of these contacts were delivered by phone. The outcomes are comparable with benchmark trials of one-to-one therapy (usually 12-15 hours duration). However, the volume of patients seen is vastly increased (about a quarter of the time of one-to-one therapy) at much less cost (lower level trained staff). The guided self-help program is embedded within a stepped care model, so that if patients are at risk (e.g. of suicide) or inappropriate for guided self-help (e.g. have post- traumatic stress disorder) they are stepped straight up to ‘high intensity’ (one-to-one) therapy interventions.

The Doncaster Model has delivered excellent outcomes in a ‘real’ health service context. Australia is now in a good position to capitalise and build on the lessons from the UK initiative. A feasibility study for Australia has great potential to demonstrate significantly improved access, equity, choice and outcomes for Australians with high prevalence mental health disorders.

AGPN recommends funding of $1 million over two years to implement the eCBT program.

http://www.agpn.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/22426/20100114_sub_Federal-Budget-2010-11-Submission.pdf