Mental Health Services on the NHS
There has been a huge increase in people seeking treatment for mental health issues, and the NHS has responded by offering services. This includes:
The Long Term Plan has made a renewed commitment to grow investment in mental health services faster than the NHS budget overall. This will include specialist work in suicide prevention.
Get assistance
One of four of us will have mental health issues at some time in our lives. The good news is that there are many different ways to seek help, and most people recover over time. It is important to know the types of help available and who can provide it.
You can seek help from a variety of places such as your GP (primary care medical doctor) as well as your local health centre, or a community mental health team. These teams comprise of occupational and nurse psychotherapists and speech therapists. They work with the people who use their services. You can receive individual or group therapy, based on the type of assistance you need.
Your GP will typically request you to fill out an application form to refer you to a community mental health team. They will also ask what you require in terms of support. You will be seen by an individual from the mental team like psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. In some instances, your assessment and treatment will be performed by a clinical nurse specialist. If you're in an emergency, you can call the NHS 111 helpline for immediate support. If you're already being assisted by mental health services it's a good idea to try and contact your usual team first unless it's out of the normal hours, a weekend or a bank holiday.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health outlined plans to create more place-based, multidisciplinary community mental health teams with links to primary care networks. These teams will improve the quality of the mental health services provided to those in crisis, and offer support to those within their communities and at home instead of in hospitals.
The plan aims to make crisis services more accessible by decreasing wait times and opening up more beds. It would also introduce mental health transport vehicles, and ensure that all ambulances have an official who is a mental health liaison in their control rooms to improve the way that those suffering from a mental health crisis are supported in emergency situations.
Treatment options
The NHS offers a wide array of treatment options for people suffering from mental health problems. GPs are usually able to treat minor disorders, but more serious issues will require the assistance of a specialist team. These teams work across primary and community mental health services as well as mental health hospitals. There are also safe places where you can get help for those who are in a crisis.
Talking therapies for depression and anxiety are one of the main kinds of treatment. Previously known as IAPT the programs have seen the number of people who seek them increase every year since their introduction in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to expanding these services so that 1.9 million people can access them by 2023/2024.
Psychiatric medications are also an important component of treatment. They can help alleviate symptoms by altering the way that chemicals function in your brain. They can also be used to alleviate the side effects of other treatments. Your doctor will prescribe the appropriate medicine for you.
There are many kinds of talk therapy, including individual therapy and group therapy. Some of these are delivered in person, while others can be delivered online. Some patients prefer treatment in person, but this is a personal preference. There are also a lot of charities that provide classes and support groups like Mind. Their website has a lot of reliable information, but you should be aware that there's a lot of false or misleading information available on the internet regarding mental health issues.
While the NHS is advancing its mental health services however, it is still struggling to keep up with demand. In the UK, there are 54 mental trusts. The majority of them receive funding for their services from clinical commissioning group. They are typically located in a specific area, but can be commissioned to deliver national services.
The lack of resources is a major issue. There are also concerns over what is a mental health assessment of care, and a shortage of nurses and psychiatrists. The NHS is striving to improve its services by introducing new ways of working and offering more training. It is also introducing more secure and efficient methods to help people in crisis like mobile crisis teams and secure areas.
Supporting you
Since the NHS was launched 70 years ago there have been numerous positive changes for people with mental health problems. The options for treatment have grown and social barriers have been smashed down. But there is much more to be done.
People who are experiencing mental illness need to receive the assistance they require quickly and easily. That's why the NHS is striving to improve the services available to those who need them. By 2020/21, we will make sure that all acute hospitals have a mental health liaison service both in A&E and on wards for inpatients and that 70% of them will be in compliance with the core 24 standard by 2023/24. Then we will strive to achieve 100 percent coverage.
We will also expand services for the community, such as talking therapy, to offer support for hundreds of thousands of individuals suffering from mental health conditions, whether they are severe or common. We will continue to develop the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme so that more people are treated by trained therapists more quickly.
The NHS provides confidential, free assistance to anyone suffering from mental health issues. They include the Samaritans, Mind and Rethink. These helplines are operated entirely by volunteers who offer a safe place to talk or offer advice and guidance on how to deal your mental health issues.
Additionally to that, there are a lot of local organisations which can provide support and guidance to people with mental health problems. These can include self-help guides, coping strategies, and activities to try. Many of these organizations also offer face-to-face support groups for those who prefer this method.
For students, there is the University's Open Door Team which offers a drop-in counselling service for those who are feeling low or stressed. There's also the Nightline student counselling service that offers confidential listening and support from skilled volunteers, as well as information about other services. Charities like Mind and Rethink are a great source of information. They can offer support in many forms such as online and through local groups. They can offer a range of courses and activities from mindfulness to art classes that are beneficial for those with mental health issues.
Referrals
Mental health services are under strain and GPs have to make difficult decisions about the best specialist services to refer their patients to. The doctor will take into consideration the medical history of the patient and refer them to services they believe will be able to aid. They can refer a patient to an NHS trust, or an independent provider.
A mental health professional will then evaluate the referral and decide whether it's appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't happy with the referral, they will call the GP and explain the reasons. They could request the GP to alter the referral or ask for more information.
Referrals to a local Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) may be made via the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS). The system lets doctors and other healthcare professionals to direct patients to an initial clinical assessment for mental health or directly to an appointment. However not all CMHTs provide both options, and the system isn't able to be used for every kind of mental health referral.
A GP might decide to refer a patient to a specialized community mental health service (CMT). They are typically run by an extensive hospital or a local healthcare organisation. CMTs are a great alternative for those looking to consult with a seasoned psychologist or psychiatrist, but do not require inpatient treatment. They also offer an early intervention service where a psychiatrist collaborates with the counselor to help someone overcome a problem or improve their life quality.
One of the challenges that a CMT is ensuring that all referrals are assigned within an appropriate time frame. One of the problems is that many referrals are considered urgent, despite the fact that they may not be. This can lead people who aren't in a crisis to be overworked and experience delays.
To tackle this issue, some CMHTs are trying to establish more uniform standards for what is an urgent referral. This was achieved by using a standardised form which asks the referrer to indicate if the case is urgent. The form includes a box for the referrer to check if they feel that the referral is urgent.