Care trust pioneers ‘talking therapies’

Jun 27 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

PEOPLE suffering from depression and anxiety disorders will be able to benefit from a “talking therapies” initiative.

Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust is one of 32 PCTs chosen to spearhead the venture.

The PCT will receive a share of the £33m first instalment of money announced by the Health Secretary on World Mental Health Day 2007.

Funding will pay for more therapists who can listen and offer advice to people.

Helen Bellairs, chief executive of Western Cheshire PCT, said: “They can help people with mild to moderate depression or anxiety, people who say they are not feeling well who may be feeling stressed.

“This is a way of treating people before it gets worse. At the moment it takes longer to see a specialist because of the waiting list.”

Fifty per cent of patients at a district general hospital are people with “medically unexplained symptoms”. Psychological therapies have been shown to be effective in treating some of these people.

They are as effective as medication in the short term and can be more effective at preventing relapse in the long term.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends a range of psychological interventions, including cognitive behavioural therapy, for mild to moderate depression and anxiety disorders.

Pilot projects in Newham, East London, and Doncaster, in Yorkshire, monitored 5,000 patients in a year and more than half were brought to “measurable recovery”, with the number going to work rising by 10%.

The country’s 10 strategic health authorities each chose between two and five primary care trusts to take the latest initiative forward and a number of higher education institutions to deliver the newly developed national curricula for high and low- intensity therapy workers from the autumn.

Over the next three years, 3,600 extra therapists will be trained and offer treatment to 900,000 people at a national level.

In the first year, at least 700 therapists will be trained and see about 100,000 people.

Further information on job opportunities can be obtained from the NHS jobs website www.jobs.nhs.uk.