Ultrasis Plc Regulatory News (ULT)

23 Apr 2007 07:01

Ultrasis PLC23 April 2007 Press release 23 April 2007 Ultrasis plc ICAS contract win for Beating the Blues Ultrasis plc ('Ultrasis' or the 'Company'), the provider of computer-delivered,interactive healthcare products and associated services, is to provide itsflagship programme Beating the Blues to ICAS, the leading employee assistanceprovider, as an integral component of services offered by ICAS. This is a new customer for Ultrasis, in a significant new market for theCompany, underlining the substantial market potential for Beating the Bluesbeyond its current deployment, which is mainly in the public sector. Theagreement is further recognition of the benefits of using computers to deliveraccess to treatments for common mental health problems such as depression andanxiety. ICAS is well established as one of the world's leading providers of work-basedpsychological support. ICAS will actively support employees who access theprogramme through its well established telephone counselling and remote casemanagement services. Stephen Galliano, Chief Executive Officer of ICAS, said: "We decided to addBeating the Blues to our high-quality range of services after close consultationwith Ultrasis and a thorough evaluation of the programme. We expect BtB willadd greatly to our offering by enhancing employee performance, development andwell-being. "With common mental health problems becoming a real concern in the workplace andcurrently estimated to cost British business in excess of £9 billion per annum,this is an ideal opportunity for our corporate customers to offer theiremployees another way of accessing the latest, evidence-based treatments, eitherto help support them to stay in work or, where absence is unavoidable, return towork much sooner." Nigel Brabbins, Chief Executive of Ultrasis plc, said: "We are delighted thatthe partnership we are developing with ICAS will enable the employees whom theysupport to get access to the latest, evidence-based treatments for depressionand anxiety. "Importantly it will also help us to look at new models of delivery, using thehigh-quality remote, case-management systems that ICAS has used to supportpeople for more than 20 years. What we learn from this could help inform newways to deliver healthcare in the future." Further information: Ultrasis plc:Nigel Brabbins, Chief Executive +44 (0) 20 7566 3900nbrabbins@ultrasis.com www.ultrasis.com Media enquiries:Capital MS&L +44 (0) 20 7307 5330Peter Curtain / James Madsenjames.madsen@capitalmsl.com Notes to editors: Beating the Blues is an eight-week, web-based treatment programme for depressionbased on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Following a rigorous examination by theNational Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), BtB was approvedby NICE in February 2006 for use in the National Health Service. Approving Beating the Blues for use by the NHS, the Secretary of State forHealth announced on 28th March 2007: "Computer-based therapy for milder, butmore common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety should bemade available to any patients in England who could benefit from it from April(2007)." www.ultrasis.comwww.thewellnessshop.co.uk ICAS is one of the world's leading providers of well-being and employeeassistance programmes (EAP). Behavioural risk management, critical incident andtrauma services, expatriate support and training are just a selection of ICASonline and offline services proven to contribute positively to organisationalhealth and performance. ICAS supports over 1.5 million employees in 900companies worldwide. www.icasworld.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange