GPs urged to bring mental and physical health services together

GPS ARE being encouraged to place mental health experts in surgeries to bring more mental and physical health services under one roof.

Under the NHS England plans, therapists would focus on common mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, particularly where they occur in patients suffering from a longterm physical health condition such as diabetes, respiratory or heart problems.

Figures show that nine out of 10 adults with mental health problems are supported in primary care and broadening the range of services for patients means local health services are better equipped to deal with patients’ physical and mental health needs.

Many parts of the country are already combining mental health and primary care services this way. In Sheffield, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) practitioners provide updates on the patient record on GP systems at each appointment.

This provides the doctor with useful information on the patient and enables them to have a fully informed conversation about their physical and mental health needs. In Calderdale, West Yorkshire, the IAPT service uses the GPs’ diary system, which means practice staff can book appointments with the therapist directly.

And in Cambridge and Peterborough, early results show that timely and effective mental health care for people with diabetes, cardiovascular or respiratory illnesses have resulted in a threequarters reduction in inpatient hospital attendance and a twothirds drop in A&E admissions, saving £200,000 of NHS funding.

NHS England’s national director for mental health, Claire Murdoch, said: “Joining up talking therapy services in primary care settings is another big step for- ward for our patients and a key plank in putting mental health at the centre of the long-term plan for the NHS. We are on track to deliver 3,000 therapists in primary care, with over 800 in surgeries at the end of last year and this handy guidance should convince those practices that are yet to take the plunge of the benefits.”

Dr John Hague, clinical mental health lead at Suffolk and North East Essex STP (sustainability and transformation plan), said: “If the IAPT service is seeing a patient then it is freeing up the GPs and nurses to do other work. So why not do it?

“There is no reason why not. Evidence-based low intensity treatments are effective in terms of patient recovery and for most issues offer the most rapid, surefire chance of recovery.”

People with a physical health condition are more likely to experience mental ill-health.

More than 16m people in England are diagnosed with a longterm physical health condition, and one in three of this group will experience a mental health problem.

reported last week that Dr Richard Vautrey, a leading member of the British Medical Association and a family doctor in Leeds, has written wrote to council health chiefs warning that people with anxiety and depression are being left in distress for months as a mental health therapy service in the city struggles to cope with demand.

Dr Vautrey said there was an urgent need to address problems in the city’s Improving Access to Psychological Treatment (IAPT) service because it did not have enough resources to meet rising demand.