Exploring inequalities in pathways to mental health care and the long-term outcomes of NHS Talking Therapies

People from minoritised ethnic groups experience multiple barriers in access to psychological therapies across primary and secondary care, have worse health outcomes, and are more likely to come in contact with mental health services via acute, crisis and involuntary routes. I plan to use novel data science methods (natural language processing and national data linkages) to study inequalities in pathways to mental health care for people from minoritised ethnic groups taking an intersectional approach. I will embed the perspectives of people with lived experience and wider stakeholders by establishing an overarching steering group and facilitating co-production workshops with individuals from Patient and Carer Race Equality groups and NHS Race and Health Observatory to explore bottlenecks in the care system, including disparities in the quality of assessments in those accessing NHS Talking Therapies ("NHSTT", previously known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies), the impact of service changes due to COVID-19, namely remote therapy delivery, and the effect of NHSTT treatment on subsequent mental health service use. Better co-produced understanding of inequalities at different stages in the pathway to mental health care will help identify where resources should be targeted for optimal outcomes and improve the effectiveness of the system.