NIHR CLAHRC EM study hits headlines

The findings into a study funded by NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands which showed how phone or video calls therapy can improve health anxiety and save money made news bulletins across the region.

Easy-access, remotely-delivered psychological treatment can significantly reduce extreme health anxiety in people who repeatedly go to the doctor, or hospital emergency departments, according to the Urgent Care Study.

BBC East Midlands Today featured a story about the research on January 31, while BBC Radio Nottingham also reported the results.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Institute of Mental Health along with NIHR CLAHRC EM carried out the multi-centre trial to compare the effects of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered by phone or video calling, to standard treatment via their GP and the mental health referral system. 

They found that the randomly selected group of patients who received sessions of remote CBT via telephone or online video calling had markedly reduced health anxiety in the 12 months after the start of this treatment and the cost savings to the NHS were more than £1,000 per patient. The results, published in BMC Medicine, also show that general anxiety and depression in these patients improved over the same period, as did their overall health.