CaPE Clinic

What is the CaPE clinic?

The Care Pathway Enhancement Clinic (CaPE) is being run by Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW). The aim of the CaPE Clinic is to enable patients to get involved in clinical research as well as providing an assessment and a management plan for patients with mood disorders. Those referred to the CaPE Clinic should have an interest in participating in clinical research.

How to be referred to the CaPE Clinic?

There are two main routes of referral to get an appointment at the CaPE Clinic:

1. A referral from your care team
2. Self referral - Please complete this short form

What to expect from a CaPE Clinic appointment?

Before you attend the clinic you will be sent some forms which will ask you questions about yourself and your symptoms. Please fill these out and bring them with you to the appointment. These provide essential information and will help to speed up the assessment process.

You will be invited to one or two appointments with a psychiatric doctor who will complete a structured assessment of your mental health. This appointment may last for up to two hours. Following this you may be asked to complete further rating scales or to have some physical health investigations (e.g. blood tests or an ECG). The doctor may discuss current research studies with you. The doctor will discuss recommendations with you, write to your GP and, if appropriate you will be invited to participate in a research study.

CNTW leads many research projects into the treatment of mood disorders. Through your assessment at the CaPE clinic you may find that you are suitable to participate in one of these research projects. You may then be invited to attend further appointments to discuss this. There is no obligation to be involved in research.

CaPE Studies:

Medication trials:

• ASCEnD Study - ASCEnD is a clinical trial, designed to determine clinical and cost-effectiveness of aripiprazole/sertraline combination as a treatment for bipolar depression.
• RELMED - The RELMED study is investigating how different antidepressants affect brain processes involved in learning and decision-making in people with depression, with the goal of improving personalised treatment selection.
• Alto-100-211 - A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study followed by open-label treatment of ALTO-100 in adults with bipolar disorder currently experiencing a Major Depressive Episode
• COMBINER -The effectiveness of Lithium plus Quetiapine COMBination versus LithIum versus QuetiapiNe monothErapy in the maintenance treatment of bipolaR disorder: the COMBINER trial.

Psychedelic trials:

• Embrace - The EMBRACE trial is a clinical study investigating whether CYB003, an investigational psychedelic treatment combined with psychological support, is effective in treating major depressive disorder that has not responded adequately to antidepressants.
  
• COMP 006 - The COMP 006 is a clinical trial which aims to investigate whether two administrations of COMP360 (synthetic psilocybin formulation) are effective in treating depression which is difficult to treat. Please note that whilst the COMP 006 trial is ongoing, it is no longer open for recruitment.

Neurostimulation trials:

• HOME Study - Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation in major depressive disorder.
• BDeP Study - Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation in bipolar disorder.

Observational trials:

• Real-world Gait & Movement as a biomarker in Bipolar Disorder - This study is looking to understand if we can use small wearable sensors to measure the walking and movement of people with Bipolar Disorder.
  
• Mood Disorder Cohort Study - The Mental Health Mission Mood Disorder Cohort Study is a research study collecting clinical, questionnaire and biological data from people with difficult-to-treat depression or bipolar disorder to improve understanding of mood disorders and support the development of more effective treatments.
• Social Health Cohort Study - The Social Health Cohort Study is a research study investigating how social connectedness, relationships and community experiences affect mental health, wellbeing and recovery in people living with severe mental illness.

More information on the CaPE Clinic

To find out more about the CaPE Clinic please visit here.