What is the care programme approach?
The Care Programme Approach (CPA) arose out of concern about the inadequate follow-up care for people leaving psychiatric hospitals.
It requires health and social services to completely integrate their assessments to make sure everybody with a mental health problem who needs support gets properly planned, coordinated and agreed care.
Its four main elements are:
- A system for assessing the health and social needs of people accepted into specialist mental health services
- Drawing up a care plan which identifies the health and social care required from different agencies e.g. GP’s, psychiatric units, psychology departments
- The appointment of a ‘care co-ordinator’ to keep in close touch with the service user and to monitor and co-ordinate care. The care co-ordinator will usually be a Community Psychiatric Nurse, a Social Worker or an Occupational Therapist
- Regular review and, where necessary, agreed changes to the care plan
The CPA applies to all those people who are under the care of the secondary mental health service (health and social care) in a number of settings.
What levels of help are there?
Care packages come in two forms depending on the level of help the person is assessed to need. The two levels of need are standard and enhanced.
The standard CPA
is for people who require the support of only one agency. People on standard level will pose no danger to themselves or to others and will not be at high risk if they lose contact with the services. The input of the full multidisciplinary community health team with not be required – service users on standard CPA will generally require the support of one or two members of the team.
The enhanced CPA
will be for people with complex mental health needs who need the input of both health and social services. People on enhanced CPA generally need a range of community care services. This group of people may include those who have more than one clinical condition and also those who are hard to link with services and/or with whom it is difficult to maintain contact. Some people on enhanced CPA are thought to pose a risk if they lose contact with the services. Generally speaking, enhanced CPA tends to apply to people with the more severe mental health problems such as schizophrenia or manic depression. In some cases, an enhanced CPA can gain you better entry to services.
The standard CPA
is for people who require the support of only one agency. People on standard level will pose no danger to themselves or to others and will not be at high risk if they lose contact with the services. The input of the full multidisciplinary community health team with not be required – service users on standard CPA will generally require the support of one or two members of the team.
The enhanced CPA
will be for people with complex mental health needs who need the input of both health and social services. People on enhanced CPA generally need a range of community care services. This group of people may include those who have more than one clinical condition and also those who are hard to link with services and/or with whom it is difficult to maintain contact. Some people on enhanced CPA are thought to pose a risk if they lose contact with the services. Generally speaking, enhanced CPA tends to apply to people with the more severe mental health problems such as schizophrenia or manic depression. In some cases, an enhanced CPA can gain you better entry to services.
