National Specification for psychological therapies and interventions - national implementation guide 3: psychology operational plan

2. Service Background and Current Situation

The Service Background and Current Situation section should provide a detailed description of the Psychology Service, including its scope, its performance, the available resources, and the key challenges. The areas that should be covered are:

• Details of the range of services provided within psychology delivery and any that the Board is not currently able to provide (it is helpful to explain why). It is also useful to set out any sub-national, regional, or national delivery the service is linked to.
• An analysis of the current waiting list, for example at the end-of-month preceding the date of the Operational Plan (figures to include those patients waiting to start treatment as would be reported to Public Health Scotland). Such analysis to include a reasonable level of detail, for example waits by service / team / specific waiting list and waiting periods, and commentary on the key waiting lists of current concern. A suggested format is shown at Appendix 1.
• An analysis of the trend of the total waiting list, in detail over the previous year (e.g. graphical presentation of monthly movements) and commentary where relevant on any longer-term trends. Additional information may be relevant on specific services / teams experiencing the most significant recent changes in waiting list numbers.
• Details of internal clinical lists, e.g. patients waiting for a second treatment within the current episode (such as Individual treatment following Group treatment). These are patients who would not be reported again to Public Health Scotland as they have already started treatment but may have implications for utilisation of treatment capacity.
• An analysis of the trend in total demand over the previous year (e.g. graphical presentation of monthly accepted referrals) and commentary where relevant on any longer-term trends and other aspects such as acceptance rates and patient needs / acuity. Additional information may be relevant on specific services / teams experiencing the most significant changes in demand and any new services that have recently been introduced and have added to demand.
• An analysis of historic Treatment Starts by service / team and commentary on those services with any recent significant changes or capacity versus demand challenges. A suggested format is shown at Appendix 2.
• An analysis of staffing levels. A summary of overall changes in levels and mix of staffing since the introduction of the Mental Health Outcomes Framework funding in March 2021, and in detail, changes in staffing over the last year and the associated context. Additional information may be relevant on specific services / teams with particular staffing and capacity pressures or recruitment challenges.
• Other relevant local factors as appropriate.