Abstract
SummaryNew psychological services are about to roll out across England. the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guidelines have led to government investment in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. New IAPT services should cut waiting times for psychological treatment of depression and anxiety disorders from months to days. They are intended to be available for all adults on the basis of need rather than age. It is not currently illegal for patients to be discriminated against by the National Health Service (NHS) because of their age. the government intends to introduce new legislation against age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services by the NHS. Further investment and service development will be needed to counter existing age-related inequalities in mental health services
Highlights
The 2006 Depression Report argued that National Health Service (NHS) evidence-based psychological therapies should be available for all who need them and the most important benefit of government investment in psychological services would be the reduction in distress and suffering
Concerns have been raised that the use of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to assess the cost-effectiveness of treatments may be age-discriminatory.[21]
The government hopes Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) will deliver new, state-ofthe-art psychological therapy services to raise standards of recognition and treatment for adults who are diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders.[9]
Summary
New psychological services are about to roll out across England. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guidelines have led to government investment in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. New IAPT services should cut waiting times for psychological treatment of depression and anxiety disorders from months to days.They are intended to be available for all adults on the basis of need rather than age. It is not currently illegal for patients to be discriminated against by the National Health Service (NHS). No legislation currently protects people from age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services by the National Health Service (NHS).[1] Increasing evidence of inequality in English mental health service provision between ‘younger adults’ and people over 65 years old has been reported, with lower use of services by older people with depression and anxiety disorders.[2] Newly formed mental health teams have provided services for adults of working age, excluding older adults.
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