Care Programme Approach

Care programme approach (CPA) is an approach that is used in specialist mental health services to assess needs and then plan, implement and evaluate the care that service users receive.

First introduced in 1991, the Care Programme Approach (CPA) was envisaged as a framework designed to promote the effective co-ordination of care of people suffering from poor mental health and being treated within secondary mental health services such as those provided by CWPT Specialist Mental Health Services.  The CPA is a framework that describes the process of assessing, planning, reviewing and co-ordinating the range of treatment, care and support required for the best positive outcome of the Child and Young Person within the Specialist provision.

The purpose of the CPA is to ensure that service users are at the heart of their care, receive clear treatment pathway and that there is a clear robust line of accountability for their package of care.

 An approach such as CPA can particularly add value for those children and young people with more complex needs, such as those which need help from specialist multi-disciplinary Specialist Mental Health Services for Children and Young People, Rise.  The value of CPA in enabling transparency of care and treatment and promoting  accountability of clinicians needs to be enhanced by linking with other planning and assessment frameworks (see below).