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

Routes of self-referral vary depending on the study. For more information on self-referral routes for each trial, see the page relating to the study you are interested in below. If you have come via self referral, the focus will more likely be on considering appropriate research studies.

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:

ASCEnD Study

ASCEnD is a clinical trial, designed to determine clinical and cost-effectiveness of aripiprazole/sertraline combination as a treatment for bipolar depression.

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.