Mental Health Services on the NHS
There has been a huge rise in people seeking help 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 the amount of money spent on mental health services quicker than the NHS budget overall. This will include specialist work in suicide prevention.
Helping yourself
One in four of us will have a mental health problem at some moment in our lives. The good news is that there are many different ways to get assistance and the majority of us recover after a while. It is essential to know what help is available and who can provide it.
You can seek assistance from a variety of places like your GP (primary medical doctor for primary care) or your local health centre, or a community mental health team. These teams consist of occupational and nurse speech therapists, and psychotherapists. They work with the patients who require their services. Based on the type of help you require, you may be offered individual or group therapy.
Your GP will typically request you to fill out a form to refer you to a community mental health team. They will also ask what type of assistance you require. You will be consulted by members of a mental team, such as psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. In some instances your evaluation and treatment will be conducted by a specialist in clinical nursing. You can contact the NHS 111 helpline when you're in a crisis. If you are already receiving mental health services, it is best to contact your regular team first, unless it is out of hours, on a weekend, or a bank holiday.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health set out plans to establish more multidisciplinary, community-based, place-based mental health teams, with connections to primary care networks. They will improve the quality of the care given to those experiencing a mental health crisis. They will also offer support in their homes and communities, rather than in hospital.
The plan also aims to make crisis services more accessible by decreasing wait times and allowing more beds. It would also introduce mental health transport vehicles and ensure that all ambulances have a mental health liaison nurse in their control rooms to ensure that people who are having mental health issues are helped in times of crisis.
Treatment options
The NHS provides a variety of treatment options to treat mental health problems. GPs typically have the ability to treat minor conditions, but more severe conditions will require a specialist team. These teams operate in both community and primary mental healthcare services and psychiatric hospitals. There are also safe places where you can get help when you're in a crisis.
Talking treatments for anxiety and depression are among the main kinds of treatment. Previously known as IAPT These programs have seen referral numbers increase each year since their launch in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to expanding these programs to 1.9 million people by 2023/2024.
Psychiatric medications are also a vital part of treatment. They can improve symptoms through altering the way chemicals work in your brain. They can also be used to reduce the side effects of other treatments. Your doctor will suggest the best medication for you.
A wide variety of talking therapy options are offered which include group therapy as well as individual therapy. Some of them are offered in person, whereas others can be done remotely. Some patients prefer treatment in person, but this is a personal choice. Mind is one of many charities that offer support groups and courses. The site is full of information that is reliable however, be aware of the fact that there are numerous false or misleading claims on the internet about mental health issues.
While the NHS is advancing its mental health care however, it is still struggling to keep up with demand. There are 54 mental health trusts in the UK and the majority of they receive funding from clinical commissioning organizations to deliver their service. They are usually located in a specific region however, they may be commissioned to provide national services.
One of the main issues is the lack of resources to meet the demands of the rising population. There are concerns about the quality of care and the shortage of psychiatrists and nurses. The NHS is working to improve the services by introducing new methods of working and offering more training. It also introduces more efficient and safer methods of treating people in crisis. These include mobile crisis teams and safe spaces.
We are here to help you
Since the NHS launched 70 years ago, there have been many positive changes for people with mental health issues. The options for treatment have grown and social barriers have been smashed down. But there is more to be done.
People who are in mental illness need to get the help they need quickly and easily. The NHS is striving to improve the quality of services so that people in need receive them. We will ensure that no acute hospital is without a mental health liaison in A&E departments and wards for patients by 2020/21. We will also ensure that 70 percent of these services will be in line with the 'core 24' standard by 2023/24. We will work towards achieving 100% coverage afterward.
We will also expand community services, including talk therapy, to offer assistance to hundreds of thousands of people suffering from mental health conditions regardless of whether they are severe or common. We will continue to work on the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme so that more people can be seen by qualified therapists, more quickly.
The NHS offers 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 run by trained volunteers and provide an environment where you can talk in a safe manner or provide advice and information on how to deal with your mental health concerns.
In addition there are a variety of local organizations that provide assistance and support for people with mental health problems. They can provide self-help guides, coping strategies and activities to try. Many of these organizations also offer support groups that meet face-to-face for those who prefer this method.
For students, there's the University's Open Door Team which offers a drop-in counselling service for those who are feeling depressed or stressed. Nightline is a student counseling service that provides confidential listening, support and information from experienced volunteers. Charities like Mind and Rethink are a great source of information. They can provide support in a variety of ways that include online and through local groups. They offer a variety of courses and activities including mindfulness classes to art classes, which are useful for people with mental health issues.
Referrals
Mental health services are under strain and GPs are forced to make difficult choices regarding 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 can assist. They may refer a patient to an NHS trust or an independent service.
A mental health specialist will review the referral to determine if the referral is appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't satisfied with the referral they will contact the GP to discuss their decision and explain the reason. They can also ask the GP for more details or to alter the referral.
private mental health assessment ireland to a local Community Mental Health Team can be made using the NHS e-Referral Service. The system permits GPs and other health professionals to refer people to either a pre-mental health assessment or directly to an outpatient appointment. Not all CMHTs offer both options and the system can't be used for all types of mental health referrals.
A doctor may also decide to refer a person to a specialized community mental health service (CMT). These are usually run by a large local healthcare organization or a hospital. CMTs can be a good option for people who wish to consult with a seasoned psychologist or psychiatrist but don't require inpatient care. They also offer an early intervention program, where a psychiatrist collaborates with a therapist to help a person overcome a crisis or improve their life quality.
CMTs face the challenge of ensuring that all referrals are made within a reasonable time. One of the challenges is that a lot of referrals are deemed as urgent, despite the fact that they may not be. This can lead to delays and over-working for people who are not in crisis.
To tackle this issue, a few CMHTs have tried to establish more uniform guidelines for what constitutes an urgent referral. This has been achieved through the use of the standardised referral forma that requires a referrer decide if the situation is urgent. The proforma has a box that the referrer can tick to indicate if the request is urgent.
