Jaarlsen11 years ago

Depends whether the 'market' works at all. It's probably the best example of a clinical area that could benefit from innovative approaches based around solid evidence and outcomes. The institutional management of mental illness can be pretty depressing and new outsourced services exist such as bigwhitewall.com/ that can really transform lives

Hidden11 years ago

Well the Nicholson challenge (aka cuts) will surely start to bite in an 'unsexy' area like mental health - bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-k... . But I do agree that there are some really good examples where mental health can really lead the way in changing the way we approach. Good example today from grant to develop smartphone CBT services by Manchester Uni - manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/ne...

And some credit should go to institutions like NHS England for pushing this agenda.

Motoko11 years ago

Sadly mental health is still a taboo area but the fact that the issue has been picked up in the media is a clear sign attitudes are changing. It's also an area where a one fits all approach isn't working and the NHS needs to account for it. There was a great documentary of some kids with OCD going to USA for innovative treatment as they couldn't get what they needed in the UK bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037wn0l

lowtech11 years ago

It will make little difference to accessing mental health services until GPs wake up and start treating it as a real and serious health problem which they don't have the experience to deal with. All requests for help should be referred to an expert team no matter what the source whether it is relatives, police, friends, or those affected. Every request ignored is an opportunity for sufferers to go on and cause harm to themselves or in the street. Patient confidentiality is mis-applied by practitioners to create situations which only count against best outcome. This needs urgent attention by GPs.