WHAT IS THE NATIONAL AUDIT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES?
The National Audit of Psychological Therapies for Anxiety and Depression aims to promote access, appropriateness, acceptability and positive outcomes of treatment for those suffering from depression and anxiety. The audit is open to all NHS-funded services in England and Wales providing psychological therapies in the community for people with anxiety and depression. It includes adults over the age of 18 who are receiving psychological therapy services in the community. The audit is working with both IAPT and non-IAPT sites. It engages healthcare professionals in a systematic evaluation of their clinical practice against standards for best practice. Local services are able to benchmark their performance and identify where they are performing well, and where there is potential to improve the quality of treatment and care they provide. Services are also encouraged to engage in action planning to improve their practice or maintain existing good practice. On a national level, wide participation in the audit also creates an overview of the quality of care being provided in England and Wales. The National Audit of Psychological Therapies (NAPT) is funded by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and is an initiative of the College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI). The project is part of the National Clinical Audit programme and trusts are required by the Department of Health to report their participation in the audit in their Quality Account.