Psychosis prediction in primary care

This project aims to explore whether it would be feasible and acceptable for primary care providers such as GPs to use the psychosis risk prediction model developed and validated by our research team.

Risk prediction models use electronic health records’ data to predict the likelihood of something happening in the future, such as whether a patient will develop a disease.

We have developed and validated a psychosis risk prediction algorithm (P Risk) that uses primary care electronic health records on a patient’s consultation history to predict how likely they are to develop psychosis. This is because the length of time between a patient experiencing the early signs of psychosis and receiving specialist care has an impact on outcomes. Therefore, quick referrals for specialist treatment are very important.

We would like to investigate whether the clinical software used by GPs could support P Risk and whether GPs would accept using it. This is because GPs play an important role in getting patients the treatment they need, but often find it difficult to identify the early warning signs of psychosis.

Our P Risk tool enables people at high risk of psychosis to be identified prior to the onset of illness, so that preventative measures can be put in place. We hope that our work will result in speedier referral for psychosis assessment and opportunities for prevention and early treatment intervention.

We are collaborating on this project with University College London.