Understanding Initial Barriers to NHS Talking Therapies
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding access to NHS Talking Therapies: an online survey to explore client and service-focused factors that contribute to initial non-attendance
IRAS ID
330921
Contact name
Irini Verbist
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
There is a significant increase in referrals to NHS Talking Therapies services over time. However, the frequency of clients entering the services (>0 session) remains limited. In 2021-2022, Greater Manchester Talking Therapies services received approximately 46,000 referrals, with almost half (47%) not attending their first appointment. Evidence has shown that the waiting process, unmet expectations, and symptom severity seem to discourage people from taking up treatment after referral. Despite the number of clients who are left untreated and the associated waste of NHS resources, client feedback is not collected at this stage. Provided that the majority of studies on initial non-attendance have used data routinely collected in Talking Therapies, we aim to further expand our knowledge and report on the most frequent client-focused (i.e., personal beliefs, social influences and attitudes towards therapy) and service-focused barriers (i.e., practical issues, lack of knowledge, and previous experience) amongst clients who did not attend their first appointment. A survey will be shared with clients who attended 0, 1 and 2 or more appointments. We aim to explore associations between the aforementioned variables and number of appointments attended, to compare and ultimately find the strongest predictors for initial non-attendance.
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/PR/1275
Date of REC Opinion
30 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion