Mental Health Services on the NHS
The NHS has responded to the rising number of mental health problems by offering services. This includes:
The Long Term Plan has made the commitment to increase the investment in mental health services more quickly than the NHS budget overall. This will include specialist work in suicide prevention.
Need help?
One in four people will suffer from a mental illness at some point during their lives. The good news is there are many ways to get help, and many of us will recover with time. It is essential to know what help is available, and who is able to provide it.
You can seek help from a variety of sources like your GP (primary medical doctor who treats patients) or your local health centre or a community mental health team. These teams comprise of nurses, occupational and psychotherapists, as well as speech therapists. They work with the clients who seek their services. Depending on the type of help you need, 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 kind of support you need. Then, you will be viewed by a member of the mental health team that may comprise a psychiatrist social worker or psychologist. In certain instances your evaluation and treatment will be carried out by a nurse specialist. You can call the NHS 111 helpline if you are in an emergency. If you already receive mental health support, it is best to contact your primary team first, unless out of hours, on a weekend or a bank holiday.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health detailed plans to create multidisciplinary, community-based mental health teams which are connected to primary care networks. These will help to improve the quality of care given to those experiencing an illness of mental health and offer assistance within their communities and homes rather than in hospitals.
The plan aims to make crisis services more accessible by reducing wait times and opening up more beds. It would also include an ambulance for mental health and ensure that all ambulances are equipped with an individual who is a mental liaison nurse in the control room to improve how patients who are suffering from mental illness are supported during emergency situations.
Treatment options
The NHS offers a range of treatment options to treat mental health issues. Less severe disorders are often treated by GPs, while more severe conditions require specialists. These teams operate across primary and community mental health services and also mental health hospitals. There are also safe places where you can get help when you're in crisis.
Talking therapies are among the most commonly used forms of treatment for depression and anxiety. Previously referred to as IAPT the programs have seen the number of people who seek them increase each year since their launch in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan has set the goal of expanding these services to 1.9 million people by 2023/2024.
Psychiatric medications are also a crucial component of treatment. They can help alleviate symptoms by altering the way chemicals in your brain work. They can also be used to alleviate the side effects of other treatments. Your doctor will recommend the right medication for you.
A wide variety of talking therapy treatments are available, including group therapy and individual therapy. Some of these treatments are delivered in person, while others can be done via remote access. Some patients prefer face to face treatment, but it's a matter of choice. There are a variety of charities that provide support groups and classes, such as Mind. Their website has a lot of trustworthy information, but you must be aware of the fact that there's lots of misleading or false information on the internet about mental health issues.
The NHS is working to improve the mental health system, but it's struggling to meet demand. There are 54 mental health trusts across the UK, and most of are funded by clinical commissioning groups to provide their service. They typically are located in a specific region, but can be contracted to provide national services.
The absence of resources is a major problem. There are also concerns about the quality of care, and a shortage of nurses and psychiatrists. The NHS is striving to improve its services by introducing new ways of work and delivering more training. It is also introducing more efficient and safer methods to treat people in crisis including mobile crisis teams and secure areas.
Supporting you
Since the NHS launched 70 years ago there have been numerous positive changes for people with mental health problems. Treatment options have gotten more diverse and social barriers are being taken down. But there's still a lot to do.
People experiencing mental health issues need to be able to get the help they need quickly and easily. The NHS is striving to improve the quality of services so that people in need are able to access help. By 2020/21 we will ensure that all acute hospitals have a mental-health liaison service, both in A&E and on wards for inpatients and that 70% of these will meet the core 24 standard by 2023/24. Then we will strive for 100 percent coverage.
We will also enhance services for the community, such as talking therapy, to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people suffering from mental health issues regardless of whether they are common or severe. We will continue to develop the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program to ensure that more people can be seen by qualified therapists, more quickly.
The NHS offers confidential, free helplines to those suffering from mental health issues. Samaritans Mind and Rethink are some of the helplines available. These helplines are operated by trained volunteers and provide the opportunity to talk with someone in a secure environment or provide advice and information on how to deal with your mental health issues.
There are also local organizations that provide assistance and support to those who suffer from mental health issues. These include self-help guides, coping strategies and activities to try. mental health test uk of these organizations offer support groups that meet face-to-face for those who prefer it.
The University's Open Door Team offers a drop-in counseling service for students experiencing stress or depression. Nightline is a student counseling service that offers confidential listening assistance, information and support from knowledgeable volunteers. Charities such as Mind and Rethink can provide many sources of information and support both online and in local groups. They also offer various classes and activities, ranging from mindfulness to art groups, which may be useful for people who suffer from mental health issues.
Referrals
Mental health services are under strain and GPs are forced to make difficult choices regarding which specialist services they should refer their patients to. The doctor will take the patient's medical history into consideration and then recommend them to a service they think can assist. They may send a referral either to an NHS trust, or an independent provider.
A mental health specialist will then assess the referral and decide if it's appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't satisfied with the referral, they'll call the GP to discuss their decision and provide why. They may request the GP to modify the referral or request additional details.
The ability to refer patients to the local Community Mental Health Team can be made via the NHS e-Referral Service. The system lets doctors and other healthcare professionals to direct patients to a preliminary assessment for mental health or directly to an appointment. However, not all CMHTs offer both options and the system isn't able to be used for every type of mental health referral.
A GP may also refer patients to a community mental health specialist service (CMT). These are usually operated by a large local healthcare organization or hospital. CMTs are a great option for those who want to consult a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist but don't need inpatient treatment. They can also offer an early intervention program where psychiatrists work with a psychotherapist to help someone overcome an issue or improve the quality of their life.
One of the major challenges that a CMT is ensuring that all referrals are assigned within the appropriate timeframe. One of the problems is that a large number of referrals are considered urgent, even though they may not be. mental health online assessment uk can result in over-working and delays for people who are not in crisis.
To address this issue, some CMHTs are trying to establish more uniform standards for what is considered an urgent referral. This was achieved by using an established form that asks the referrer if they believe the situation is urgent. The form has a checkbox that the referrer is able to tick when the request is urgent.