Mental Health Services on the NHS

There has been an enormous increase in people seeking treatment for mental health issues and the NHS has responded by offering services. This includes:

The Long Term Plan has made an unrepeatable commitment to increase investment in mental health services faster than the NHS budget overall. This will include specialized work in suicide prevention.

Get assistance

One in four of us will have mental health issues at some time in our lives. The good news is that there are a variety of different ways to seek help and most of us recover with time. However, it is important to know what assistance is available and who can offer it.

You can get help from your GP, your local health center or mental health team in your community. These teams consist of nurses, occupational therapists psychotherapists, psychotherapists and speech and language therapists who work with those who utilize the service. You can receive individual or group therapy depending on the type of help you need.

Your doctor will typically request you to fill out a form to send you a referral to a community mental health team. They will also ask you to specify what type of assistance you require. You will be consulted by a member of an interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals which includes psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. In some cases your evaluation and treatment will be carried out by a nurse specialist. If you're in an emergency, you can contact the NHS 111 helpline for urgent assistance. If you're already being assisted by mental health services, it's a good idea try and contact your usual team first, unless it's outside of core hours, the weekend or a bank holiday.

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health set out plans to establish more place-based, multidisciplinary community mental health teams that have links to primary care networks. They will improve the quality of the care given to those suffering from a mental health crisis and offer assistance within their communities and homes, rather than in hospital.

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 ensure that every ambulance has an official who is a mental health liaison in their control rooms to ensure that people who are having a mental health crisis are assisted in emergencies.

Treatment options

The NHS offers a range of treatment options to treat mental health conditions. GPs are usually able to treat less severe conditions, but more severe illnesses will require the assistance of a specialist team. These teams work across community and primary mental health services and the psychiatric hospitals. There are also safe places where you can seek help if you are feeling in crisis.

Talking therapies are among the most common types of treatment for anxiety and depression. Previously referred to as IAPT the programs have seen referrals increase every year since they were introduced in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to expanding these services to 1.9 million people by 2023/2024.

The use of psychiatric medication is also a crucial element of treatment. They can alleviate symptoms by altering the way the brain's chemicals function. They can also help reduce the side effects of other treatments. Your doctor will suggest the right medication for you.

A wide range of talking therapy options are available, including group therapy and individual therapy. Some of these therapies are delivered in-person, while others can be done remotely. Some patients prefer face to face treatment, but it is a matter of choice. Mind is one of many organizations that offer support groups and classes. Their website is full of trustworthy information, but you should be aware that there's a lot of misleading or false information 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 them receive funding from clinical commissioning organizations to deliver their service. They are typically located in a specific region however, they can also be commissioned to provide national services.

A key issue is the lack of resources to meet the demands of the rising population. There are concerns over the quality and shortage of psychiatrists and nurses. The NHS is working to improve the services by introducing new ways of working and offering more training. It is also introducing safer and more effective ways to help people in crisis including mobile crisis teams and secure spaces.

Helping you

Since the NHS launched 70 years ago there have been a lot of positive developments for people suffering from mental health problems. The treatment options have gotten better and social barriers have been taken down. However, how can I get a mental health assessment there is still much to be done.

People who are experiencing mental illness need to receive the assistance they require quickly and easily. The NHS is working to improve services to ensure that those who need them receive help. We will ensure that no acute hospital is without the mental health liaison service in A&E departments and wards for inpatients by 2020/21. We will also ensure that 70 percent of these services will meet the 'core 24' standard by 2023/24. Then we will work towards achieving 100% coverage afterward.

We will also expand community services, including talking therapy, in order to provide support for hundreds of thousands of people with mental health issues regardless of whether they are serious or common. We will continue to work on our national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT), so that more people suffering from mental health problems can be seen more quickly by qualified therapists.

The NHS provides free, confidential helplines for anyone suffering from a mental health assessment report health issue. Samaritans Mind and Rethink are some of the helplines that are available. These helplines are run by volunteers who provide an environment where you can talk to someone in a safe manner or give advice and information on How Can I Get A Mental Health Assessment to deal your mental health concerns.

There are also a number local organizations that can offer support and guidance to people suffering from mental health issues. Self-help guides, coping strategies and other activities are all possible. Many of these organisations also offer face-to-face support groups for those who prefer this option.

The University's Open Door Team offers a drop-in counseling service for students who are struggling or stressed. There's also the Nightline student counselling service that offers confidential listening and support from knowledgeable volunteers, or information about other services. Charities like Mind and Rethink can provide many sources of information and assistance, both online and in local groups. They offer a variety of classes and activities, including mindfulness classes to art classes that can be beneficial for those suffering from mental health issues.

Making a referral

With mental health services under pressure, GPs have to make difficult choices about which specialist services they can refer patients to. The GP will take a patient's medical history into consideration and then recommend them to a service they believe will be able to help. They may refer a patient to an NHS trust or an independent provider.

A mental health professional will examine the referral to determine if the referral is appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't satisfied with the referral, they'll contact the GP and explain their reasons. They may also request the GP for more information or to modify the referral.

Referrals to a local Community Mental Health Team can be made through the NHS e-Referral Service. The system allows GPs and other health professionals to refer people to either a preliminary mental health assessment for mental health or directly to an outpatient appointment. Not all CMHTs offer both options, and the system is not able to be used for all types of mental health referrals.

A doctor may also refer patients to a mental health specialist in the community service (CMT). These are usually run either by a large hospital or local health care organization. CMTs are a great option for those who have to visit a psychologist or psychiatrist but don't require inpatient care. They also offer an early intervention service, where a psychiatrist collaborates with the counselor to help someone overcome a crisis or improve their quality of life.

CMTs are faced with the task of making sure that all referrals are received within a reasonable time. One of the issues is that a large number of referrals are deemed as urgent, despite the fact that they may not be. This can cause patients who aren't in a crisis to be overwhelmed and suffer delays.

To address this issue some CMHTs are trying to establish more consistent guidelines for what constitutes an urgent referral. This was accomplished by using a standardised form that asks the referrer if the case is urgent. The proforma includes a box that the referrer can tick if they feel that the referral is urgent.