Brits want more mental health services in primary care

If additional space was available, more than one third of Brits would want access to mental health or counselling services in their GP practice or healthcare clinic.

That is according to NHS Property Services, who commissioned research into how the pandemic has impacted the way we view the delivery of primary care services.

The results revealed that, if additional space was available, 38 per cent of Brits would want access to mental health or counselling services in their GP practice or healthcare clinic. This aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan which aims to grow and invest in adult mental health services within the community.

Some providers are predicting a 20 per cent increase across all of their mental health services in the wake of the pandemic. NHS Property Services found that the desire for access to services in primary care was most keenly favoured by those aged 18-34, with almost half citing these as a key addition to their local healthcare facility. Women (43 per cent) were also more likely than their male (32 per cent) counterparts to want access to these services.

As day to day life has changed, the survey showed that the pandemic has also changed the way people want to access their healthcare services, with many open to accessing healthcare in alternate ways. In fact, 40 per cent of Brits would now be unhappy to sit in a shared waiting room, however 68 per cent of respondents said they would be comfortable going to a mobile clinic near their home. Almost half would even be willing to attend a drive-thru clinic.

John Westwood, Director of Asset Management at NHSPS, said: “The results of the survey have helped us to hear the patient voice and understand how people want the GP surgery and healthcare facility of the future to look, how they want to use it as well as the services they want to receive in it. Working with Alice has helped us to visualise what patients want while also showing how the patient vision could be implemented in practice.

“At NHSPS, we are committed to shaping the NHS estate for the future so that it can continue to enable excellent patient care and support the NHS to deliver on its Long Term Plan. We also want to help drive the provision of vital services closer to patients so that they can easily access them. These findings will help to inform the decisions made about how primary healthcare services are delivered moving forwards and will enable us to ensure that people’s wider health and wellbeing is looked after at all ages.”