National Specification for psychological therapies and interventions - national implementation guide 3: psychology operational plan
Once for Scotland guidance to support NHS Boards in the development of comprehensive Psychology Service Operational Plans that can act as a route to the enhancement of service delivery and management of services.
11. Appendix 5 – DCAQ Analysis
The Psychological Therapies and Interventions Waiting Times Standard Definitions note that:
‘all services or organisations providing psychological treatments and interventions must be able to:
1. accurately record information on referral details, individual information, therapies / interventions delivered and individual outcomes and
2. use the appointment and unavailability information to calculate waiting times.
Services should use cornerstone applications such as TrakCare, EMIS or Morse and not local solutions such as Excel files or Access database to record individual and service information.’
The scope and quality of DCAQ data will depend on the local system and its configuration. How data is reported will also depend on the locally available tools. Excel spreadsheets are an option for analytical work, but local Business Intelligence and Data Presentation Tools are preferable if available. To effectively develop and utilise DCAQ data Psychology services will require access within their Board to appropriately skilled and experienced analytics support.
DCAQ tools to support the relevant analyses are available from Public Health Scotland Patient access support tool (PASTool) - Child and adolescent mental health service and psychological therapies - Mental health services, support and recovery - Public mental health - Population health - Public Health Scotland .
In addition, an example of a detailed DCAQ analysis format can be found in the supporting documents together with a guidance note:
Contact
Email: ptspecification@gov.scot