Mental Health Services on the NHS

There has been a massive 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 the commitment to increase the amount of money spent on mental health services more quickly than the NHS budget in general. This will include specialist work in suicide prevention.

Get help

One of four of us will suffer from mental health issues at some point in our lives. The good news is that there are many ways to get help, and most of us will improve over time. It is important to know what help is available and who can offer it.

You can get help from your physician, your local health center, or a mental health team in your community. These teams consist of nurses, occupational and psychotherapists and speech therapists. They collaborate with people who use their services. Based on the type of assistance you require you could receive individual or group therapy.

Your doctor will typically require you to fill out a form to make a referral to a community mental health team. They will also ask you what kind of support you need. You will be consulted by members of the mental team, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. In some cases, a clinical nurse specialist will perform your assessment and treatment. If you are experiencing a crisis, you can call the NHS 111 helpline for urgent assistance. If you're already being supported by mental health services it's best to contact your regular team first unless it's out of normal hours, on a weekend or a bank holiday.

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health detailed plans to establish multidisciplinary, community-based mental health teams that are linked to primary care networks. These teams will increase the quality of the care provided to those in crisis, and provide support to patients within their communities and at home instead of in hospitals.

The plan also aimed to make crisis services more accessible by reducing wait times and opening more beds. It also proposes the introduction of mental health transport vehicles and make sure that all ambulances have a mental health liaison nurse in their control rooms to ensure people suffering from a mental health crisis are supported in emergency situations.

Treatment options

The NHS provides a wide range of treatment options for mental health issues. GPs typically have the ability to treat less severe disorders, but more serious illnesses will require a specialist team. These teams work in both community and primary healthcare facilities and psychiatric hospitals. There are also safe spaces where you can get help if you are feeling in a state of crisis.

Talking therapies are one of the most common types of treatment for depression and anxiety. These programs, previously referred to as IAPT (Interactive Assessment and Psychotherapy) have seen their number of referrals increase every year since they were first introduced in 2008. The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to expanding these services to 1.9 million people by 2023/2024.

Psychiatric drugs are a different aspect of treatment. They can help alleviate symptoms by changing the way chemicals work in your brain. They can also be used to ease side effects of other treatments. Your doctor will prescribe the appropriate medicine for you.

A wide variety of talking therapy options are available including group therapy and individual therapy. Some of these therapies are offered in person, while other are available online diagnosis mental health. Some patients prefer receiving treatment in person, but this is a personal decision. Mind is one of many charities that offer support groups and courses. The site is full of information that is trustworthy, but be aware that there are numerous false or misleading statements on the internet about mental health issues.

While the NHS is improving its mental health care, it still struggles to meet the demands. There are 54 mental health trusts across the UK and the majority of they receive funding from clinical commissioning groups to provide their services. They typically are located in a particular region however, they can also be contracted to provide national services.

A key issue is the insufficient resources to meet the growing demand. There are concerns over the quality and availability of nurses and psychiatrists. The NHS is working to improve the quality of care by offering more training and introducing new ways of working. It is also introducing safer and more effective ways to assist people in need like mobile crisis teams and secure areas.

Supporting 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 increased and social barriers have been smashed down. But there's still a lot to be done.

People who are suffering from a mental health crisis require the ability to get the assistance they require quickly and easily. The NHS is working to improve services to ensure that those who need them receive them. By 2020/21 we will ensure that all acute hospitals offer a mental health liaison service that is available in A&E and on wards for inpatients, and that 70% of them will be in compliance with the core 24 standard by 2023/24. Then we will strive to achieve 100 percent coverage.

We will also increase services for those who require them in the community, such as talking therapies, to give hundreds of thousands of patients with severe or common mental health conditions the support they need. We will continue to work on our national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT) in order to ensure that more people with mental health issues can be seen quicker by qualified therapists.

The NHS offers confidential, free helplines to those suffering from mental health issues. They include the Samaritans, Mind and Rethink. These helplines are run entirely by volunteers who offer the opportunity to talk in a secure environment or offer advice and guidance on how to manage your mental health issues.

In addition, there are a number of local organizations that can provide assistance and support for those suffering from mental health issues. Self-help guides, coping techniques and other activities are all possible. Many of these organisations also offer support groups that meet face-to-face for those who would prefer this type of support.

The University's Open Door Team offers a drop-in counseling service for students feeling down or stressed. There's also the Nightline student counselling service that offers confidential listening and support from experienced volunteers, or information on other services. Charities like Mind and Rethink are a great source of information and offer support in many forms that include online mental health assessments and through local groups. They also offer various classes and activities, ranging from mindfulness to art classes, which may be useful for those living with mental health problems.

Making a referral

With mental health services under pressure, GPs have to make difficult choices about the services they will refer patients to. The doctor will take the patient's medical history into account and then recommend them to a service they think can assist. They may send a referral to an NHS trust or an independent service.

A mental health professional will then assess the referral and decide whether it's appropriate or not. If the specialist isn't pleased with the referral they will call the GP to discuss their decision and provide the reason. They could also ask the GP to modify the referral or ask for more details.

Referrals to the 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 preliminary mental health clinical assessment service or directly to an outpatient appointment. However there are some exceptions. CMHTs provide both options, and the system isn't able to be used for every type of mental health referral.

A doctor may decide to refer a patient to a specialist community mental health service (CMT). They are usually managed by an enormous hospital or a local healthcare organisation. CMTs can be book a mental health assessment (sciencewiki.science) good option for those who want to consult a qualified 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 problem or improve their life quality.

CMTs have the responsibility of ensuring that all referrals are made within a reasonable time. Many referrals are deemed urgent, even if 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 have attempted to establish more uniform standards for what constitutes an urgent referral. This was achieved by using a standardised form that asks the referrer to indicate if the case is urgent. The form includes a box for the referrer to check when they believe that the referral is urgent.