More than 5,000 people helped by mental health hub launched in pandemic

More than 5,000 people across the north-east have benefitted from a service bypassing their GP to get rapid mental health help.

NHS Grampian launched the Psychological Resilience Hub in March 2020, at a time when services were massively stretched by the pandemic.

Open to members of the public as well as health and social care staff, it let them selfrefer to receive specialist psychological support.

It has now closed to new referrals after two years – having helped thousands of people and scooping two national awards in the process.

Siobhan Cowie, who was the service’s support manager, said there had been a clear demand during the early days of the pandemic.

The initiative meant people didn’t have to wait for a GP consultation, so could be seen by a clinician faster.

However, as restrictions began to ease, referral rates began to drop – to the level where the service is no longer necessary.

Siobhan said: “We were seeing less and less demand for the service, which is really positive.

“It shows that the support has been in place, and we’ve actually done a good job that we can step away again.”

The Psychological Resilience Hub has also won two awards.

The team picked up the care for mental health gong at the Scottish Health Awards, and was named most inspiring or innovative project at the Quality Improvement Awards.

Although the hub is now closed to new referrals, Siobhan emphasises there is still support available.

“Although this is one small service, support is absolutely still available for people,” she added.