Steps to Wellbeingandpatient Information

Steps to WellbeingandPatient Information

Your Steps to Wellbeing service is part of the National Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT). Each IAPT service across the country is required to provide information to the Department of Health in order for standards of care to be monitored and to ensure patients are receiving good quality treatment wherever they are.

What information do wecollect and why?

Locally, information about you and the treatment you are receiving is stored electronically and securely. We monitor many different aspects of the service we provide such as the number of referrals to the service or waiting times of our patients to allow us to evaluate how we’re doing as a service and continually improve. We also monitor the demographic population accessing the service to ensure equal access to all (in accordance with the Equality Act 2010).

Nationally, it is important that services are monitored to ensure that good quality care is being provided across the country. Services are monitored to ensure they are delivering a range of NICE compliant therapy, short waiting times, good recovery rates, good attendance rates and equitable access for all. It is important to understand that no information that could reveal a patient’s identity is used in national reports. For example, a national report may show the total number of people aged over 65 who are receiving CBT treatment, never an individual’s information.

Keeping Information Safe and Secure
All information stored locally and nationally is subject to strict confidentiality rules including the Data Protection Act 1998, the Health and Social Care Act 2001 and the NHS Care Record Guarantee. Information sharing from local services to national databases is made through a secure data storage area and cannot be accessed by anyone who is not specifically permitted to.

Do you need to use my information?

National reports offer the greatest benefit to improving services when they have data from as many patients as possible, as this offers the most accurate picture of how a service is operating. If, however, you do not want your information included in any national analyses, please speak to the therapist treating you and they will ensure that your information is not used. This will not affect your treatment in any way.