The prevalence of mental health conditions is high for autistic adults. Yet, the IAPT manual states that referral rates into NHS Talking Therapies Services (NHS-TTS) do not reflect this nationally. Non-adapted treatment has been identified as a key barrier to accessing these services. It is therefore imperative that clinicians adapt to the needs of autistic individuals to make treatment accessible and effective. However, there is limited research in the field, especially for low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT). This service evaluation explores adapted LICBT for autistic adults within Plymouth’s NHS-TTS and Autism Service. It investigated clinical outcomes of adapted group and one-to-one LICBT with 84 participants. It hypothesised that psychometric measures for anxiety and depression would be lowered on treatment completion, whilst exploring whether either intervention showed a greater reduction. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants from the sample to gather perspectives on what aspects of treatment were favourable or require improvement. A factorial ANOVA revealed that psychometric measures reduced on completion across both interventions, with a greater decrease for one-to-one treatment and the anxiety measure. In addition, four themes and nine subthemes emerged following a thematic analysis, which focus on different aspects of treatment, such as content, structure, interaction, and barriers to engagement. Findings indicated that adapted LICBT was associated with lower anxiety and depression for autistic adults. This consequently has implications for improving the current LICBT provisions being offered to autistic adults within the NHS-TTS.

1. (1) To understand some of the barriers autistic people face accessing an NHS Talking Therapies Service (NHS-TTS) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

2. (2) To reflect on the importance of adapting practice and CBT for autistic people.

3. (3) To present potential adaptations to low-intensity CBT for autistic adults with anxiety and depression.

Augmented Depression Therapy (ADepT) is a novel wellbeing and recovery-oriented psychological treatment for depression. A recent pilot trial run in a university clinic setting suggests ADepT has potential to be superior to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) at treating anhedonic depression in a NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression (NHS–TTad) context. Before proceeding to definitive trial in pragmatic settings, it is important to establish if therapists in routine NHS-TTad settings can be trained to deliver ADepT effectively and to assess therapist views on the feasibility and acceptability of ADepT in this context. A bespoke training and supervision pathway was developed (2-day workshop, four 2–hour skills classes, and 6 months of weekly supervision) and piloted with 11 experienced therapists working in a single NHS–TT service in Devon. Nine out of 11 therapists completed the placement, treating 24 clients with a primary presenting problem of depression; 21/24 completed a minimum adequate dose of therapy (≥8 sessions), with 17/24 (71%) showing reliable improvement and 12/24 (50%) exhibiting reliable recovery. Eight out of nine therapists submitted a session for competency assessment, all of whom were rated as competent. Nine therapists submitted feedback on their experiences of training. Eight out of nine therapists felt the ADepT model would be effective in an NHS–TTad context; that training was interesting, useful, well presented and enhanced their own wellbeing; and that they felt sufficiently skilled in core ADepT competencies at the end of the placement. This suggests that NHS–TTad therapists can be trained to deliver ADepT competently and view the treatment as feasible and acceptable.

1. (1) To become familiar with the Augmented Depression Therapy (ADepT) approach for enhancing wellbeing in depression.

2. (2) To evaluate the potential utility and feasibility of ADepT model in NHS Talking Therapies Services (NHS–TTad).

3. (3) To understand the pilot ADepT training and supervision pathway for CBT therapists in NHS–TTad services.

4. (4) To consider the opportunities and challenges of training therapists to deliver ADepT in NHS–TTad services.

Self-harming behaviours are reported to be increasing amongst young people and are associated with increased risk of suicide. The recently published UK clinical guidelines highlight that cross-sector awareness and early psychosocial assessment of self-harming is necessary, alongside careful triaging as to the level of support required. Dialectical behaviour therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) is a recommended intervention for young people with more severe difficulties. The current study aims to contribute to the data available to inform ongoing clinical decisions about the feasibility and implementation of DBT-A by reporting the intervention method, participant characteristics, and clinical outcomes of a national (UK) DBT service for young people with high levels of need and risk. Young people who commenced treatment between 2015 and 2021 were included. Completion rates, reasons for non-completion, and discharge pathways are reported. Measurement and changes in outcomes, including self-harm, in-patient bed days, accident and emergency department attendances and education/work status, are reported, as well as for routine outcome measures assessing emotion dysregulation and symptoms of emerging borderline personality disorder, depression and anxiety. The clinical significance of these outcomes are considered. Ideas for service evaluation, which are feasible and replicable in busy clinical settings are proposed, as well as a discussion of potential adaptations to standardised protocols needed in this context to fit with National Health Service (NHS) resources and the needs of the target population.

1. (1) To learn about the implementation of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and concurrent outcome monitoring in a UK National Health Service CAMHS out-patient setting.

2. (2) To understand the clinical profile and response to treatment of young people with high levels of suicidal and non-suicidal self-harming behaviours.

3. (3) To present a potential method for outcome monitoring and collection for CAMHS DBT services.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant psychological impact on healthcare workers (HCWs).

There is an urgent need to understand the risk and protective factors associated with poor mental well-being of UK HCWs working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shortly after the April 2020 UK COVID-19 peak 2773 HCWs completed a survey containing measures of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and stress, as well as questions around potential predictors such as roles, COVID-19 risk perception and workplace-related factors. Respondents were classified as high or low symptomatic on each scale and logistic regression revealed factors associated with severe psychiatric symptoms. Change in well-being from pre- to during COVID-19 was also quantified.

Nearlya third of HCWs reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety and depression, and the number reporting very high symptoms was more than quadruple that pre-COVID-19. Several controllable factors were associated with the most severe level of psychiatric symptoms: insufficient personal protective equipment availability, workplace preparation, training and communication, and higher workload. Being female, ‘front line’, previous psychiatric diagnoses, traumatic events, and being an allied HCW or manager were also significantly associated with severe psychiatric symptoms. Sharing stress, resilience and ethical support for treatment decisions were significantly associated with low psychiatric symptoms. Front-line workers showed greater worsening of mental health compared with non-front-line HCWs.

Poor mental well-being was prevalent during the COVID-19 response, however, controllable factors associated with severe psychiatric symptoms are available to be targeted to reduce the detrimental impact of COVID-19 and other pandemics on HCW mental health.

The effect of minor orthopaedic day surgery (MiODS) on patient’s mood.

A prospective population-based cohort study of 148 consecutive patients with age above 18 and less than 65, an American Society of Anaesthesiology (ASA) score of 1, and the requirement of general anaesthesia (GA) were included. The Medical Outcomes Study – Short Form 36 (SF-36), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used pre- and post-operatively.

The mean physical component score of SF-36 before surgery was 45.3 (SD = ±10.1) and 8 weeks following surgery was 44.9 (SD = ±11.04) [n = 148, p = 0.51, 95% CI = (−1.03 to 1.52)]. For the measurement of the changes in mood using BDI, BAI and SF-36, latent construct modelling was employed to increase validity. The covariance between mood pre- and post-operatively (cov = 69.44) corresponded to a correlation coefficient, r = 0.88 indicating that patients suffering a greater number of mood symptoms before surgery continue to have a greater number of symptoms following surgery. When the latent mood constructs were permitted to have different means the model fitted well with χ2 (df = 1) = 0.86 for which p = 0.77, thus the null hypothesis that MiODS has no effect on patient mood was rejected.

MiODS affects patient mood which deteriorates at 8 weeks post-operatively regardless of the pre-operative patient mood state. More importantly patients suffering a greater number of mood symptoms before MiODS continue to have a greater number of symptoms following surgery.

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for the detection of foetal aneuploidy through analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in maternal blood is offered routinely by many healthcare providers across the developed world. This testing has recently been recommended for evaluative implementation in the UK National Health Service (NHS) foetal anomaly screening pathway as a contingent screen following an increased risk of trisomy 21, 18 or 13. In preparation for delivering a national service, we have implemented cfDNA-based NIPT in our Regional Genetics Laboratory. Here, we describe our validation and verification processes and initial experiences of the technology prior to rollout of a national screening service.

Data are presented from more than 1000 patients (215 retrospective and 840 prospective) from ‘high- and low-risk pregnancies’ with outcome data following birth or confirmatory invasive prenatal sampling. NIPT was by the Illumina Verifi® test.

Our data confirm a high-fidelity service with a failure rate of ~0.24% and a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of foetal trisomy 13, 18 and 21. Secondly, the data show that a significant proportion of patients continue their pregnancies without prenatal invasive testing or intervention after receiving a high-risk cfDNA-based result. A total of 46.5% of patients referred to date were referred for reasons other than high screen risk. Ten percent (76/840 clinical service referrals) of patients were referred with ultrasonographic finding of a foetal structural anomaly, and data analysis indicates high- and low-risk scan indications for NIPT.

NIPT can be successfully implemented into NHS regional genetics laboratories to provide high-quality services. NHS provision of NIPT in patients with high-risk screen results will allow for a reduction of invasive testing and partially improve equality of access to cfDNA-based NIPT in the pregnant population. Patients at low risk for a classic trisomy or with other clinical indications are likely to continue to access cfDNA-based NIPT as a private test.