Mental health articles

Care Programme Approach
The Care Programme Approach (CPA) is the care management process for
those in contact with specialist mental and social care services. It was first
developed in 1991, to provide a framework for effective mental health
care, and it aims to minimize the distress and confusion sometimes
apparent for services users and their carers referred to the mental health
system. The CPA has four main elements:

Systematic arrangements for assessing the health and social
needs of people accepted into specialist mental health services

The formation of a care plan, which identifies the health and
social care required from a variety of providers.

The appointment of a care co-ordinator to keep in close touch
with the person and to monitor and co-ordinate care

Regular review and, where necessary, agreed changes to the
care plan
‘Valuing People’ states that the CPA should be applied to people with
intellectual disabilitieswho have mental health problems, though it should
be noted that Community Learning Disabilities Services are only just
beginning to develop the CPA.
There are two levels of the CPA, standard and enhanced. After the
assessment the multi-disciplinary team will decide which level the person
will be placed under.