Mental Health Services on the NHS
The NHS has responded to the rising number of mental health issues by providing services. This includes:
The Long Term Plan has made an unrepeatable commitment to increase the investment in mental health services more quickly than the NHS budget overall. This will include specialized work in suicide prevention.
Helping yourself
One in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some moment in our lives. The good news is that there are many different ways to get help and most of us recover with time. However, it is important to know what help is available, and who can offer it.
You can get help from your physician or your local health center or mental health team within your community. These teams consist of nurses, occupational therapists psychotherapists, psychotherapists and speech and language therapists who work together with the people who utilize the service. You can get individual or group therapy depending on the kind of help you need.
Your GP will typically request you to fill out a form so that they can send you a referral to a local mental health team. They will also ask you what type of assistance you require. home-page private mental health will then be seen by a member of the mental health team that could include a psychiatrist, social worker or psychologist. In certain instances, your assessment and treatment will be carried out by a nurse specialist. You can call the NHS 111 helpline for assistance if you're in an emergency. If you're already being assisted by mental health services it's a good idea call your usual team first unless it's out of core hours, the weekend or on a bank holiday.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health detailed plans to create multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals in the community which are connected to primary care networks. These will help to improve the quality of the care given to those suffering from a mental health crisis. They will also offer assistance within their communities and homes instead of in hospitals.
The plan also aimed to help make crisis services more accessible by reducing wait times and opening more beds. It also proposed to introduce mental health transport vehicles and make sure that all ambulances have a mental health liaison nurse in their control rooms to ensure that people who are having a mental health crisis are supported in emergency situations.
Treatment options
The NHS provides a variety of treatment options for mental health problems. GPs are often able to treat milder conditions, but more severe issues will require an expert team. These teams operate in community and primary mental healthcare services as well as psychiatric hospitals. There are also safe places where you can seek assistance when you're in crisis.
Talking therapies are among the most common types of treatment for depression and anxiety. Previously referred to as IAPT the programs have seen the number of people who seek them increase every year since their launch in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to expanding these programs to ensure that 1.9 million people will be able to access them in 2023/2024.
Psychiatric medications are another crucial part of treatment. They can alleviate symptoms by altering the way chemicals work in your brain. They can also help reduce the effects of other treatments. Your doctor will recommend a medicine that is right for you.
There are many kinds of talk therapies, such as group therapy and individual therapy. Some of these treatments are delivered in person, while others can be performed via remote access. Some patients prefer to receive treatment in person, but that is a personal decision. Mind is one of the organizations that offer support groups and classes. The website contains a wealth of information that is reliable but you should be aware of the fact that there are a lot of false or misleading claims on the internet about mental health issues.
The NHS is working to improve the mental health system, but it's struggling to meet the demands. There are 54 mental health trusts across the UK and the majority of are funded by clinical commissioning groups to deliver their service. They are typically located in a particular region, but can be commissioned to deliver national services.
The lack of resources is a major problem. There are concerns about the quality of care and the shortage of psychiatrists and nurses. The NHS is striving to improve its services by introducing new methods of work and providing more training. It is also introducing more secure and efficient methods to assist people in need like mobile crisis teams, as well as safe areas.
Supporting you
Since the NHS launched 70 years ago there have been a lot of positive developments for those suffering from mental health issues. Treatment options have expanded and social barriers are being broken down. But there is more to be done.
People who are suffering from mental illness need to receive the assistance they require quickly and easily. This is why the NHS is working hard to improve the quality of services for those who require them. In 2020/21, we will ensure that all acute hospitals have a mental health liaison service that is available in A&E as well as on wards for patients and that 70% will meet the standard of 24 by 2023/24. Then we will strive to achieve 100% coverage.
We will also expand services for those who require them in the community, such as psychotherapy, in order to provide hundreds of thousands of patients with severe or common mental health conditions the assistance they require. We will continue to develop the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme so that more people can be visited by therapists who are qualified, quicker.
The NHS provides confidential, free assistance to anyone suffering from mental health issues. Samaritans Mind and Rethink are some of the helplines that are available. These helplines are operated by trained volunteers. They offer an environment where you can talk in a safe manner, or offer guidance and information on how to tackle your mental health concerns.
There are a variety of local organizations that provide help and advice to those who suffer from mental health issues. These include self-help guides, coping strategies and activities to try. A lot of these organizations provide support groups in person for those who prefer this option.
For students, there's the University's Open Door Team which offers a drop-in counselling service for those who are feeling low or stressed. Nightline is a student counselling service that offers confidential listening as well as information and support from experienced volunteers. Charities such as Mind and Rethink can provide many sources of information and support both on the internet and in local groups. They also offer many classes and activities, ranging from mindfulness to art groups that could be beneficial for people who suffer from mental health issues.
Making a referral
With mental health services under pressure, GPs have to make difficult decisions about the services they will refer patients to. The GP will look at the medical history of the patient and recommend them to services they believe will be able to help. They may refer a patient to an NHS trust or an independent provider.
A mental health specialist will then assess the referral and decide whether it's appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't pleased with the referral, they'll contact the GP to discuss their decision and explain the reasons. They can also request the GP to provide more information or to modify the referral.
The referral to a local Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) may be made via the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS). The system allows GPs and other health professionals to refer people to either a mental health clinical assessment or directly to an outpatient appointment. Not all CMHTs provide both options, and the system cannot be used for all types of mental health referrals.
A GP might decide to refer a patient to a specialized community mental health service (CMT). They are usually managed by an enormous hospital or a local healthcare organisation. CMTs can be a good option for people who wish to consult a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist, but do not require inpatient treatment. They also provide an early intervention service in which psychiatrists collaborate with therapist in order to assist a person overcome any crisis or improve the quality of their life.
One of the major challenges faced by a CMT is to ensure that all appropriate referrals are made within an appropriate time frame. Many referrals are considered urgent, even though they might not be. This can cause people who aren't in crisis to be rushed and suffer delays.
To address this issue, some CMHTs are trying to establish more consistent guidelines for what is an urgent referral. This was achieved through a standardised form which asks the referrer if they believe the case is urgent. The form has a checkbox that the referrer has to check to indicate if the request is urgent.