Care Opinion

Let's ‘wait to talk’ Wellbeing (not IAPT-ly named)

Posted By simag8

"Let's ‘wait to talk’ Wellbeing (not IAPT-ly named)"

About: Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust / Adult mental health (inpatient)

(as a service user),

I was referred by my GP back in October 2010. After a couple of months I had my first initial consultation. From that consultation I was told that I would have to wait to hear from them for my talking therapy sessions to begin. I had opted out of ‘phone therapy’.

Now it’s early September 2011 and I’ve just had my first talking therapy appointment... 11 months on!

From being told to wait to hear from them and getting a letter notifying me of my first session was several months, in that time there was no correspondence from them at all. It would have been nice to have an update or two to keep in me informed.

Yes, I’m finally getting help and very grateful for that, but waiting almost a year? In my opinion this is unacceptable. I’m sure I’m not a lone voice here. In that time I, or others may have been in crisis and the fall-out from that.

Here are direct quotes from Let’s Talk website and leaflet:

“A service to help people with common mental health problems gain quick access to evidence based talking therapy.”

“If you require a face-to-face appointment, it will normally be arranged within 10 working days and within a maximum of 20 working days.”

I feel the wording needs to be revised and the service needs to reflect this. I believe people will respect honesty if they are told how long the potential waiting times are and be kept updated.

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Responses

Response from Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 13 years ago
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 09/09/2011 at 11:22
Published on Care Opinion at 12:21

We appreciate you taking the time to tell us about your experience.

I have passed on your posting to the IAPT (Improving access to psychological

therapies) service for further comment.

Many thanks for your feedback.

Response from Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 13 years ago
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 09/09/2011 at 17:10
Published on Care Opinion on 12/09/2011 at 09:25

The Let’s Talk-wellbeing service is extremely sorry for the long wait you have experienced before receiving help. Unfortunately, when the service opened it was asked to offer help to over 1,000 people who were already waiting for help from previous services. We agreed to offer help and contacted everyone waiting. In the early months our new service also received referrals for twice as many people as expected and we also contacted all of those people to offer help. Unfortunately, both of these things meant that everyone had to wait much longer than planned to begin treatment.

On a more positive note, we have been working extremely hard and have trained many more staff. This means that people who are now referred into our service are seen within ten days of contacting us for an appointment and most are likely to start treatment within days or a few weeks, depending on treatment choice.

I realise that this does not change how long you have waited, but I do hope it may help you to understand why this happened and to know that it has improved. We apologise once again for your wait.

If you still have questions, concerns or need help and advice You can Contact PALS our Patient Advice and Liaison Service

Our PALS Officer can be contacted on 0800 015 3367 between 9am and 5pm. For out of hours there is an answer machine.

PALS can also be contacted via e-mail at PALS@nottshc.nhs.uk or using the comment cards and PALS boxes located on most wards and in clinic reception areas. Thank you for your feedback

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