"Important steps in Mental Health support"

I am pleased to say that there have been positive moves made at this practice to help with the continuity of mental health care. The provision of a trained and experienced psychiatric nurse with the ability to refer to social prescribers has been a real move forward. Patients who are waiting for talking therapy intervention often deteriorate while on the waiting list and the first few sessions often are wasted in dealing with the fall out of this neglect. A regular meeting with a psychiatric nurse can help maintain mood and deal with some anxiety issues which make the patient much more able to take advantage of the unfortunately limited talking therapies once made available. I have found the professionalism, empathy and expertise provided by the surgery a tremendous help and hope that the funding is maintained for this valuable service.The issue of continuity is very important. I am concerned that insufficient detail is provided by Healthy Minds when they return patients to GP care and often their handling of basic information is sadly lacking in competence leading to confusion when re-referrals are made. This makes the role of the GP difficult when trying to act as "quarterback. The provision of the psychiatric nurse is a step in the right direction. Sadly we are still a long way from achieving parity in the treatment of physical and mental health.