Recognising RDMA: National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression (NCAAD)

The National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression (NCAAD) was the winner of the 2019 Richard Driscoll Memorial Award. Here’s what the audit had to say about what winning the award meant to them.

Winning the Richard Driscoll Memorial Award was very important to the National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression as it promoted to a wider audience the level of involvement of our Service User and Carer Reference Group and our work with The McPin Foundation. Our Service User and Carer Reference Group helped to guide the content and format of our reports and highlighted findings which were important to them. This feedback helped us make sure we were on the right track and made the reports a much more useful tool for creating positive change. This inclusive process influenced the design and scope of other audits, reports and recommendations produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Since winning the award we worked with our Service User and Carer Reference Group and The McPin Foundation on a further two reports, exploring access and experience of psychological therapies for people with anxiety and depression. It was after working so successfully with our service user and carer representatives that prompted us to investigate how service users experienced secondary care psychological therapy for anxiety and/or depression, using free text comments submitted in a survey given out to service users.

We felt it was important to champion the involvement of our Service User and Carer Reference Group as ultimately the audit was about improving the care and experiences of patients with anxiety and/or depression accessing mental health services, making it vital that the views of patients and carers were incorporated into our work.

Jessica Butler
Deputy Programme Manager, NCAAD

Visit NCAAD’s case study page to read about their award winning work in patient and public involvement.