Frequently Asked Questions

If you self-refer, you will be contacted by a member of our teams to arrange an assessment phone call.

If we receive a referral from your GP and the service is appropriate for you, we will contact you to arrange an assessment phone call. If the service is not suitable then the person who made the referral will be informed.

The first appointment will be an assessment. In most cases this will last for 30 minutes and be conducted over the phone. This time will provide you with the opportunity to explain your problems so we can see what service is suitable.

If you are offered treatment, you will have regular appointments with your assigned therapist. You and the therapist will usually set between-session tasks to help you put new skills and tools into practice.

It is our legal duty to ensure all your information is kept confidential. We do share information with your GP and your other healthcare providers to ensure we are giving you with the best possible care.

We will never give any other organisations identifiable information about you without obtaining your consent. However, if your circumstances mean that you or someone else is at risk of significant harm, then we have a legal obligation to share information about you with other organisations.

Information about your treatment sessions are saved on a very secure computer system. Some of the information collected is reported nationally to give a picture of services delivered across the country, to check that quality standards are similar everywhere.  No information that could reveal a patient’s identity is used in national reports. These reports only show summary numbers of, for instance, patients receiving different types of treatments and it is impossible to identify any person seen by any IAPT service from them.

The information collected is used to check that:

• services are available to those who need them
• an appropriate range of evidence based treatments is provided
• patients achieve positive outcomes from treatment.

National reports offer huge service delivery benefits by checking, for example, numbers of referrals received, time taken to access services, the type of treatments used, the outcomes of those treatments and patient feedback. Also, under the Equality Act 2010, the NHS has to monitor personal characteristics and check everyone has equal access to services and is not discriminated against in any way.

We will try to match you with a therapist to suit your language requirements, but if we can’t, we can arrange for an interpreter to assist with your appointments.

You must be over 18 to be referred to one of our services. There is no maximum age limit.

Please phone the reception number of the service where you appointment was held as soon as you can so that we can reschedule your appointment.

If you do not attend your appointments without notifying the service, or cancelling a certain number of appointments (the exact number is different across services) then you may be discharged from the service and encouraged to re-refer yourself in the future when you are able to attend regular appointments.

This depends on the service, so please check with your therapist. We try to arrange our session timings to suit your circumstances as much as we can, however this may not always be possible.

There is research which shows that people with mental health problems get better, and that many recover completely. Recovery refers to the process in which people are able to live, work and participate fully in their communities.

You will not have to pay for this service. The Talking Therapies service is free of charge.

If you have any mobility or any other requirements, please let us know in advance of your appointment so we can make arrangements for you.

We collect details about you, which includes your name, date of birth, address, contact details and next of kin. We cross check this information using NHS Spine in order to ensure that the information we gather is accurate. We also gather information about your physical and mental health from your referral information, and what your GP may provide about you based on their records. Our records are held securely on our patient electronic database IAPTUS and are accessed by staff who are involved in your care. Patient information can only be accessed for an appropriate reason such as direct involvement in your care, or making decisions around your care and this is also recorded on our systems.

In order to ensure we provide the best care for you, we may access information held by other NHS healthcare providers that we work closely with (such as your GP, or other CNWL or partner services). This will only be for an appropriate reason, such as to make decisions about your care and any systems accessed will record this.

The information we hold is shared with other health professionals involved in your care such as your GP and other health professionals supporting you, so that you get the best possible help. Some of the information collected is reported nationally to give a picture of services delivered across the country, to check that quality standards are similar everywhere.  No information that could reveal a patient’s identity is used in national reports. These reports only show summary numbers of, for instance, patients receiving different types of treatments and it is impossible to identify any person seen by any IAPT service from them.

The information collected is used to check that:

• services are available to those who need them
• an appropriate range of evidence-based treatments is provided
• patients achieve positive outcomes from treatment.

National reports offer huge service delivery benefits by checking, for example, numbers of referrals received, time taken to access services, the type of treatments used, the outcomes of those treatments and patient feedback. Also, under the Equality Act 2010, the NHS has to monitor personal characteristics and check everyone has equal access to services and is not discriminated against in any way.

As part of our service provision, we are required to provide information to NHS Digital who use this data for research and planning.

You can find out more about how this data is used by visiting this site: https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/our-work/keeping-patient-data-safe/gdpr/gdpr-register/improving-access-to-psychological-therapies-iapt

You have the right to opt-out of your confidential patient information being used by NHS Digital. If you wish to do so please visit the following website: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/  Alternatively, you can call 0300 303 5678 to opt out.