Mental healthcare on the NHS

Hi everyone!
I have general anxiety disorder as well as OCD, and am fairly certain I'll want to start seeing a therapist again if/when I arrive in the UK. I'm curious to know how mental healthcare works on the NHS and if counseling and medication is covered. I also want to hear other people's experiences or recommendations with NHS mental healthcare, if you have any!

Hi everyone!
I have general anxiety disorder as well as OCD, and am fairly certain I'll want to start seeing a therapist again if/when I arrive in the UK. I'm curious to know how mental healthcare works on the NHS and if counseling and medication is covered. I also want to hear other people's experiences or recommendations with NHS mental healthcare, if you have any!

Hope this helps. 

https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/mental-health-services-explained/Pages/accessing%20services.aspx

I should qualify my statements to specify that I have no direct experience, but from what I read it is pretty dire.  There's plenty of scare stories around about the NHS, but the stories about mental health services are extreme.  Do your research. 

It'll probably vary slightly depending on where you live. Some medications are different here but not many, and your GP should work with you for continuing care. For talking therapy where I live it's a self referral and takes a while, but it is covered. There are also private therapists. Come prepared with a few months of your medication though if you can as it can be a slow process registering with a GP and having them get through your records.

Thanks for the replies everyone 

I've only worked with the NHS with depression  and I've had a pretty good experience.

I had no prior diagnosis with it and the GP I saw when I first started my journey was really great. I'm on my second round, the first was brought on from my move here and the second (this year's) was brought on by a really dire work situation.

First time I was immediately given an antidepressant and I had already started the process for therapy. It took 6 weeks to start therapy here in Derbyshire.

As I take medication for migraines I will mention that the medication options are different, as Margo mentioned and that I have been asked to change from the medication I am using to an alternative but the consultant (neurologist) has put a stop to them asking me to change as it's not a viable option for me.

I don’t have any experience with the NHS on mental health issues but my advice is that you have to be persistent to get things done.

When we returned just over 2 years ago I had a couple of health issues including atrial fibrillation. I had a prescription that I wanted transferred and I registered and saw a GP within  a couple of weeks. She wrote a prescription for exactly the same medication I was currently taking but I was not on any medication for my AFib but I gave her copies of ekg traces, and other tests with a letter from my cardiologist in Texas. She took the records, said they would be scanned into my record and that she would refer me to the arrhythmia clinic. 6 months later I was invited to a healthy heart check at the office and when I was there I asked about my AFib and the nurse said there was no mention of it in my record. To cut a long story short it took another 6 months of my efforts before I got my referral and once under the care of the arrhythmia clinic the care has been excellent and I expect to have corrective surgery  in 6 to 8 weeks. When I did have my first appointment at the clinic I brought along more copies of my records from Texas and they were very pleased to have them because they had not received any info about my history at all.

My experience in the USA was loads of time spent sorting out billing, phone and written appeals to the insurance company to cover services I had received. Here I am finding that it is worth putting in the upfront effort to get the different parts of the NHS communicating to one another. This last week has been a good example of that. I received a phone call from the hospital telling me that I needed to start on blood thinners as my surgery was now 6 to 8 weeks away, so go down to my GP. I went down next day and saw my GP who said he didn’t know which blood thinner to put me on and showed me the letter from the surgeon which just said I needed to be on blood thinners at least 4 weeks before surgery.  He told me to call the surgeon’s office ask them to send a fax specifying which particular drug they wanted, then come back after 3 business days. I called the surgeon’s office that same day and his secretary said that it didn’t matter and it was “doctor’s choice”, but I pointed out that the letter did not say any blood thinner or doctor’s choice. Next day she called me and said that she had faxed the details through and to call my GP’s in an hour. I waited 2 hours then called and no fax had been received so I checked the fax number with the office and called the surgeon’s office again. The secretary confirmed that was the number she had sent the fax to and that she would send it again. She called me back 10 minutes to say that she had sent it and was now in receipt of 2 confirmations that the fax had been received. I called my GP’s office again an hour later and the fax still had not apparently been received so I explained that the surgeon’s secretary had 2 receipts of a successful transmission so could she look again, and if it was not there could she suggest a way to resolve this, such as me driving to the hospital, picking up the letter and hand delivering to her. She said she would check again then call me back, and 5 minutes later she did call me back saying that she had found it, and then made an appointment for me to have a blood test.

 Sorry about the long post!!

This won't answer your question-, I just want to comment real quick.

I do hope it's more accessible than it is here. I was getting health insurance through my job, and got royally screwed over (not gonna go into detail here, but let's say they cut me off without an explanation and without telling me)

My plan was to go to therapy the last 6 months before I moved just to help me cope with my feelings on the matter (Although, this forum has served as a type of therapy  ) And it was covered through my insurance. Therapy to deal with this massive change was suggested by multiple people who went through the same experience. When the insurance cut me off, I no longer had that option. When I looked into other options it was either interns who did the therapy programs and there was a waiting list or it was $50 a session and I just don't have that type of money.

I got on "short term" insurance and they didn't cover anything regarding mental health.

I hope you're able to find something. OCD is a b*tch, and anxiety on top of that...I can only imagine. Please, please, do your research to ensure that you get the best help out there So much luck to you!

Hi everyone!
I have general anxiety disorder as well as OCD, and am fairly certain I'll want to start seeing a therapist again if/when I arrive in the UK. I'm curious to know how mental healthcare works on the NHS and if counseling and medication is covered. I also want to hear other people's experiences or recommendations with NHS mental healthcare, if you have any!

Just get the process started right away and get counseling set up. I don't want to get too specific here in the open forum but from my knowledge, it can take a long time to get the care you need. I think it will also depend on where you live i.e. a bigger city will have more resources than a small town. But the wait times can be unbearable especially if you are in a desperate situation and need help. That being said, emergency services are always available but to get specialized, individualized, and regularly-scheduled attention may take a while. It can be a couple of years in our part of the UK. You might have an easier time getting into group counseling.

In my experience, I think American healthcare is much easier when it comes to finding a counselor and being able to start counseling right away. I think America is definitely a bit more advanced when it comes to treating mental illness. The UK is getting there as there have been many campaigns to address mental illness and stop treating it as a taboo subject. Still, the UK has a lot of work to do to catch up. That being said, we already know that American healthcare is much, much more expensive in the long run.

I would definitely get the ball rolling right away though once you're there so you won't have to wait too long to be seen and get the counseling you need.

If you want to know more about the specific experience I mentioned, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you through private messaging. 

I apologize in advance if this will come off as scary, but I don't want to paint a rosy picture that's far from reality.  That being said, there are lots of variables with NHS care (e.g. where you live), so your mileage may vary - you may have a very positive experience with NHS mental health services.

The fundamental problem is that mental health services are one of the worst funded specialities in the NHS at the moment.  The NHS does cover mental health services (therapy sessions, medication, etc.) but timely access is typically problematic unless you are acutely severely unwell.

Most of the time, GPs are able to prescribe medication you are already taking, so if you have a regime that works for you, bring your medical record and a signed official note from your current doctor detailing your treatment and diagnoses.  Be specific - the more comprehensive and detailed your medical history is, the more likely you'll be able to get your medicines switched over and not have to potentially start from the beginning to get diagnosed (again) to get your prescriptions approved.

If you are able, also try and bring over a large supply of medicine to keep you going until you get your prescription sorted with your GP.  It may take some time to get everything sorted and get your foot through the door:  you'll have to get a piece of mail with your address on it to prove residence for the GP catchment area, then you'll need to register with the GP, you'll likely need to book a new patient consultation (which may not happen for a few weeks), and THEN you could discuss setting up your prescriptions.  If this isn't possible, when you register with the GP, insist that you need a new patient appointment as soon as possible due to your medication supplies running out. 

I don't think that getting medicine will be an overly laborious hurdle once you get registered and have your first appointment, but access to a therapist could be the challenge.

Generally speaking, therapy referrals aren't quick unless you are an immediate danger to yourself or others.  I wouldn't be surprised at a 14-16 week wait for a first session.  Some councils have basic talking therapy sessions with a slightly shorter wait time (and in these cases, you can often self-refer), but if you're after a proper mental health professional, you will likely be waiting for a while or paying out of pocket for private sessions.  NHS sessions (once you get them) are typically every 2 weeks, and you only get a limited amount of them (8-10) at one time before a review to see if you still would benefit from them.

The good is that the mental health care I've received and my friends/family have received is fine.  None of us, in our experiences, felt like the care was sub-optimal.  And while in a dire state now, there is a growing push to try and get more funds allotted to mental health services and more recognition that mental health is serious, and must be addressed on equal grounds as physical health. 

So, I guess the TLDR version is:  the NHS will cover mental health care, the actual care will likely be fine, your GP will probably be able to prescribe your medication, but the wait for therapy will probably be significant. 

Thanks for your replies everyone! I think I'll try to go the private route, since I'm probably not considered a dire enough case for NHS mental healthcare and I can luckily afford it. I'll update with my experiences

Thanks for your replies everyone! I think I'll try to go the private route, since I'm probably not considered a dire enough case for NHS mental healthcare and I can luckily afford it. I'll update with my experiences

I was able to get into CBT therapy in less than a month luckily, so it could be worth at least seeing what is available on the NHS. But if you have the funds private will almost always be more comprehensive.