One in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem, yet only half of people seek treatment. For those who do, it usually involves navigating complex systems, an overwhelming amount of information, and broken or cumbersome services. This shouldn’t be the case. Day-to-day life can be difficult for those with mental health issues, and access to treatment should be as simple and easy as possible.
To help address this challenge, With You (formerly AddAction – one of the UK’s leading drug, alcohol and mental health charities) approached Snook. They wanted to improve access to their ‘Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) services.
IAPT aims to alleviate symptoms of mild anxiety or depression through free, talking therapies. It’s a programme which can transform patients’ lives.
They knew that once patients had entered the service they were pretty stable, but getting there was tricky. They were receiving a high number of referrals, but losing many potential patients before they attended their first therapy appointment. People were missing out on therapy, the service was becoming unsustainable, and commissioners were pressuring them for improvement.
As a result of working with Snook, the IAPT service is starting to see a 90% attendance rate from appointments booked online, up from 60%. This means that in the region of 700 to 800 more people are entering treatment each month. The percentage of people who are referred and never book an appointment has decreased from 43% to 18% and people can now book an appointment in less than 5 mins – a process that previously could have taken several weeks
Most importantly, the improvements that With You have implemented have resulted in a more accessible service, amplifying its potential to transform lives by giving patients the tools to make change happen.
30%
Increase in online booking
25%
Increase in referrals resulting in bookings
