Computer therapy to help patients back to work

Ultrasis’s Beating the Blues, a computerised cognitive behavourial therapy software package designed to offer drug-free treatment to patients with depression, is to be used in a government to help people on incapacity benefit back to work.

Beating the Blues will be used in two areas in the northwest of England, Lancashire and Liverpool & Wirral, as part of Pathways to Work, a Department for Work and Pensions funded scheme to encourage claimants of incapacity benefit to manage their conditions.

The Pathways to Work scheme started in October 2003 and applies to anybody making new or repeat claims for incapacity benefit.

Part of the scheme for those suffering from long-term illness is the Condition Management Programme (CMP). This is a joint initiative between the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department of Health aimed at individual case management of a chronic condition.

As well as supplying software to the CMP, Ultrasis will provide implementation and delivery support.

Jayne Thomas, CMP manager for Lancashire, said: "We identified that it would be far more efficient and cost-effective use of our resources to commission Beating the Blues directly from Ultrasis, which will manage the whole process from appointment through to programme completion alongside case managers."

Nigel Brabbins, chief executive of Ultrasis plc, said: "This is a significant development for the company and introduces us to a new market. Having demonstrated for themselves the clinical benefits of Beating the Blues, the PCT approached us to see if we could help obtain even better outcomes.

"We anticipate that the solution we have proposed will help them to improve their efficiency, widen participation, increase access and provide them with a total soliution that could easily be replicated in other places."

Fiona Ford, a GP and senior lecturer who will be working on the project, said that it made practical sense that Ultrasis delivered the project itself. "Previous methods of delivery have restricted access to the programme, and we hope that this new pilot will make Beating the Blues widely accessible and easy to use and deliver."

Beating the Blues was recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence at the start of thee year as a treatment option for those with mild to moderate depression. Since then, the programme has been included in pilot schemes in London and Yorkshire and will be rolled out to all PCTs by March 2007.

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