Publication, Part of Psychological Therapies, Reports on the use of IAPT services
Psychological Therapies: reports on the use of IAPT services, England June 2020 Final including reports on the IAPT pilots and Quarter 1 data 2020-21
Official statistics, Experimental statistics
Outcomes
Outcomes in IAPT are measured in terms of three measures:
- recovery,
- reliable improvement,
- and reliable recovery.
Recovery
Recovery in IAPT is measured in terms of ‘caseness’ – a term which means a referral has severe enough symptoms of anxiety or depression to be regarded as a clinical case. A referral has moved to recovery if they were defined as a clinical case at the start of their treatment (‘at caseness’) and not as a clinical case at the end of their treatment, measured by scores from questionnaires tailored to their specific condition.
The Government target is that 50% of eligible referrals to IAPT services should move to recovery.⁵
51.8% of eligible referrals moved to recovery
Reliable improvement
A referral has shown reliable improvement if there is a significant improvement in their condition following a course of treatment, measured by the difference between their first and last scores on questionnaires tailored to their specific condition.
69.1% of referrals finishing a course of treatment showed reliable improvement
Reliable recovery
A referral has reliably recovered if they meet the criteria for both the recovery and reliable improvement measures. That is, they have moved from being a clinical case at the start of treatment to not being a clinical case at the end of treatment, and there has also been a significant improvement in their condition.
49.0% of referrals reliably recovered
The chart below compares recovery, reliable improvement, and reliable recovery rates across a period of twelve months.
The chart below shows a further breakdown of the recovery measure in Quarter 1 2020/21.
Each quarter, more detailed data are published about activity. The most recent quarterly data, Quarter 1 2020/21, can be found at:
http://digital.nhs.uk/pubs/iaptjun20.
For an explanation of the terms used and further information about how measures are calculated in IAPT see the 'Guide to IAPT data and publications' at www.digital.nhs.uk/iaptreports
⁵ See p16-17 of The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/386221/NHS_England_Mandate.pdf
Last edited: 21 September 2023 5:11 pm