Maintaining Adherence Programme: evaluation of an innovative service model.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The Maintaining Adherence Programme (MAP) is a novel care model designed for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar affective disorder.
• The primary goals of MAP are to enhance treatment adherence and prevent relapse in these patient populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the MAP model on healthcare resource utilization.
• To assess changes in clinical measures and levels of patient and staff satisfaction following MAP implementation.
• To describe the effectiveness of MAP in a university National Health Service (NHS) foundation trust in England.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective and prospective data collection methods were employed.
• Data included patient questionnaires and interviews with healthcare staff.
• 143 consenting patients who initiated MAP before March 31, 2012, were included in the evaluation.

Main Results:

• Significant reductions were observed in in-patient bed days and non-MAP National Health Service (NHS) costs within 18 months post-MAP entry.
• Medication Adherence Rating Scale scores showed significant improvement from baseline at 15-18 months post-MAP.
• A notable shift towards less severe clinician-rated disease categories was documented.
• Patient surveys indicated that 96% would recommend MAP to others, with high staff satisfaction reported.

Conclusions:

• The MAP model demonstrated a significant association with reduced treatment costs.
• MAP implementation led to improvements in key clinical outcomes for patients.
• The care model achieved very high levels of satisfaction among both patients and healthcare staff.