Depression Care in the United Kingdom
In a recent report on the BBC’s website, there are many places in the UK where it is not a very good thing to have depression. The reason, the lack of being able to get the treatment needed withing the first six months of the diagnosis. Sadly, Manchester NHS is one such service not meeting the target. This is a frustration to psychotherapists like me. The report holds up IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as being great successes.
Whilst IAPT is an ambitious programme of talking therapies, it still is not meeting and certainly not exceeding it’s targets. Part of the reason for this, as I have mentioned before is that the service lacks sufficient therapists. I, and others, have long suggested that there should be an ambitious partnership between the NHS and private sector psychotherapists to help meet the mental health needs of the country. Thus far this has fallen on deaf ears.
That being said, I genuinely think that the time will come where the public and private sectors will have to come to some kind of arrangement, be that formal or informal. The mental health of the country is too important for turf wars and it is time for creative thinking from both the NHS and the professional bodies representing ethical and effective psychotherapy to meet the needs of the nation.
