Early Intervention in Psychosis

2010 This briefing is intended to inform service planners about the Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service model, which has spearheaded a revolution in how mental health services have been delivered across England over the last ten years. The EIP service model can address many of the efficiency challenges facing service planners currently, supported by a robust evidence base of clinical effectiveness and cost impact. Moreover this is a field of modern psychiatry where users and their families can have confidence in a service approach which demonstrates its effectiveness against consumer-prioritised quality indicators. Introduction We offer this briefing at a critical time for the NHS when the need to pursue efficiency has never been greater. The Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service model, developed across England over the last ten years, addresses many of the efficiency challenges facing service planners currently. Moreover this is a field of modern psychiatry where we can have confidence in a service approach which demonstrates its effectiveness against consumer-prioritised quality indicators, further supported by a robust evidence base of clinical effectiveness and cost impact. There are two key messages we want to provide. 1. EIP is an evidence-based service approach that does what it says on the tin. 2. The EIP service innovation is seen as a beginning of mental health service transformation and not an endpoint Professor Louis Appleby (29th April 2009 Birmingham " Track " conference) in a reflection on the achievements of the National Service Framework described EIP as the " jewel in the crown of the NHS mental health reform " because: 1) Service users like it 2) People get better 3) It saves money " The evidence is pretty compelling that by intervening early you can make a real difference; you can avoid someone being admitted into acute hospital care so this is really a no brainer. It makes sense to invest in early interventions to go back upstream and make sure we prevent these sorts of problems ". A mother of two sons with psychosis recently wrote an article about her experience with an early intervention service in relation to her second son developing a psychosis, aged 15yrs. She was able to draw for comparison on her experience of and outcomes from a more traditional CMHT service involved with her elder son " s care (Gladden 2009). In her opening statement she wrote: " The shock of my second …