A recent study suggests that reducing treatment and waiting times for mental health conditions from twelve months to three months could ease the financial burden on the NHS and significantly enhance treatment outcomes, ultimately improving the quality of life for countless individuals throughout the UK.
Such a change could potentially result in an annual saving of approximately £600 million, benefiting people with varying levels of anxiety and depression severity. This initiative aims to provide much-needed support to the estimated 7.1 million individuals in need of NHS Talking Therapies but currently not accessing them.
NHS Talking Therapies offer effective and confidential treatments for common mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and stress. These treatments are delivered by fully trained and accredited NHS practitioners.
Ana Catarino, Director of Clinical Science at ieso, emphasizes the importance of addressing this issue, stating, “The prevalence of mental health conditions is increasing due to the cost-of-living crisis and the fallout from the pandemic, with one in six UK adults believed to have depression or anxiety, that’s 9 million adults, so, the savings could actually be in the hundreds of millions.”
Utilizing health-economic modeling based on real-world mental health systems data, the report assessed the cost-effectiveness of various interventions. It aimed to identify the principal drivers of healthcare costs in relation to waiting and treatment times, as well as treatment effectiveness. Additionally, the study sought to uncover the economic and health impacts of different types of mental health care within the NHS.
In many healthcare systems, the clinical effectiveness of mental healthcare remains inadequately quantified, and lengthy treatment times are common.
Real patient data plays a crucial role in understanding the causes of mental health conditions and why different therapies work better for different individuals. This information can improve existing services and develop new ones.
Andrew Welchman, Executive Vice President of Impact at ieso, highlights the significance of rapid access to effective mental health treatment, saying, “The study has provided important insights into the key factors influencing health and economic outcomes. As this data was used to track individuals through their treatment in a real-world setting, it provided information on the number of sessions, waiting times, treatment requirements, and engagement with treatment, reflecting true human behavior in clinical practice.”
The report also demonstrated that treatment costs are minimal when compared to background medical costs and the costs associated with a reduced quality of life for patients.
Sam Harper, Research Consultant at York Health Economics Consortium, underscores the study’s potential to inform service commissioning, stating, “This report represents our collaborative efforts to develop a new understanding of mental health care that may assist those in charge of commissioning services in this area.”
Morad Margoum, Deputy Service Director at Dorset HealthCare University NHS Trust, highlights the value of collaborative efforts, saying, “This kind of joint working uses the best of our unique assets to show what can be done when we work in partnership to learn for the improvement of psychological treatments and ultimately, society.”
Moving forward, ieso is focused on developing scalable digital solutions that combine human care and computer-delivered therapy. These solutions can be rapidly deployed, extending the reach of individual therapists and providing fast access to highly effective care for millions of people grappling with poor mental health.
Dr. Andy Blackwell, Chief Science & Strategy Officer at ieso, concludes, “This study exemplifies how real-world healthcare data can enable new discoveries and insights that could transform the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of care.” It sets a new standard for data-enabled mental healthcare that could influence policy and care delivery not only in the UK but also in health systems worldwide.
