Psychiatry and the Right to Choose
NHS patients have a legal right select their first appointment with an outpatient. However certain GPs do not understand how it works. Siobhan Rourke discovered this when she tried to obtain an ADHD assessment via Right To Choose.
Psychiatry UK offers online consultations via videoconference with psychiatrists for fee-paying patients and some NHS patients. The service offers assessments as well as prescriptions.
Psychiatry UK has been registered as an organization that offers Right to Choose assessments
Right to Choose is a legal right given to patients by the NHS in England to be able to choose their own medical team for non-urgent, consultant-led treatment. This includes the field of psychiatry. However, it doesn't apply to services commissioned by local authorities, such as maternity services or community mental health services.
Referrals from your GP are required to be used for the right to select service. The GP must be a registered doctor with the General Medical Council. Check the NHS website to see which doctors are registered with the GMC.
You can ask for a referral to Psychiatry UK once you have an established GP. You will receive an email with a link for booking your appointment. The link will take you to a secure and secure online system which allows you to book an appointment with a doctor. You'll have to enter some basic information, like your contact details and GP reference number. Psychiatry UK offers a variety of specialists who can conduct assessments. Psychotherapists, nurses, and psychiatrists are among the experts. They are often specialists in a specific area like anxiety disorders or depression. Some focus on certain age groups, such as teenagers and the elderly. Some of these companies offer electronic consultations that are conducted on the internet using video conferencing or email.
Patients are generally referred to a provider within their CCG (Community and Care Partnership, formerly CCG) area of service. However, they can request to be referred elsewhere when they have an open e-referral with their GP and the doctor who refers them to it. This is referred to as a 'virtual GP' referral.
Psychiatry UK is an established online psychiatric assessment as well as diagnostic service. The team of experts, led by a consultant psychiatrist, Dr. James Cox, is specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders that affect adults and adolescents. This includes anxiety, depression disorders as well as perinatal mental health ADHD and addictions. Psychiatry UK is an approved provider for the NHS Right to Choose Service and offers appointments online with psychiatrists or nurse prescribers.
We are a licensed provider of Right to Choose assessments
If you are referred by your GP to an NHS hospital or service for mental health, you have the right to choose where you go. This right of choice is only available to those services that have a standard NHS contract with your CCG, or NHS England for the type of service you require. This includes psychiatry.
Psychiatry is the study of the causes and treatments for mental illness. It involves the use of medication and other methods like psychotherapy. It is a highly-specialized area that requires extensive knowledge and a lot of expertise. Psychiatrists are highly skilled professionals who work with patients, families and other healthcare professionals to help them overcome the symptoms of mental illness.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) provide the majority of NHS services across England. These organizations are accountable for coordinating NHS services in their region. CCGs have a legal obligation to ensure that they meet the national standards of care for patients. They are also legally bound to respect the rights and preferences of patients. However, there are some instances where a patient's choice of a provider is not being implemented properly. In these cases, the patient must first speak with their GP to discuss the issue.
If a GP denies a referral, the patient may contact their local commissioning group for clinical care and voice their concerns about the decision. The CCG will investigate the complaint and determine which action to take. The patient might also be able to apply for an independent complaint advocate who will assist them throughout the process.
Psychiatry UK has been registered as an official provider of Right to Choose assessments for England. They are able to provide private and NHS-funded ADHD assessment, and can also offer a shared-care arrangement with your doctor. They can also provide titrations for ADHD medication. However, they do not provide a full ADHD diagnostic assessment in their 90-minute appointment. It is essential to be upfront with your GP when it comes to the length of time the test will take. You might not get the best advice if don't inform them.
We accept referrals from GPs
Right to Choose allows GPs to refer patients to specialists that includes psychotherapy, medication and medication, under the NHS. They can do this with any provider who has a standard agreement with the CCG or NHS England. A GP can perform this only if both the patient and the doctor agree. The doctor will have to explain this to the patient, and submit an Individual Financial Request (IFR) for their doctor in order to obtain prior approval.
To better understand how GPs decide on who to refer for referral, the TAG team conducted a series of facilitated focus groups with doctors and MHPs in eight different GP surgeries. The discussions were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. In general, doctors are reluctant to refer patients for psychotherapy and medication. They were concerned that patients may not be able cope with additional treatment and may not attend follow-up sessions. Many GPs were also of the opinion that psychiatry liaison had insufficient resources and was oversubscribed.
The findings of this study revealed that GPs depend more on pre-existing relationships and knowledge to make referral decisions, rather than on the specific needs of a patient. This was evident in all of the recorded meetings. CMHT leaders, Psychiatrists, and GPs all spoke about the competence of GPs. This was evident in every recorded meeting.
It is crucial to remember that the right to choose is applicable to both treatments and assessments including neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessment. Psychiatry UK is one of the largest providers of NHS and private ADHD assessments. psychiatry uk right to choose offer a variety of services to NHS and private funded patients. The service includes the provision of a consultation with a psychiatrist and an assessment report, as well as prescriptions for medication.
The NHS is experiencing a dramatic increase in demand for mental health services and the system is unable to keep up. Specialized services like ADHD assessments or the diagnosis of disorders affecting perinatal babies are in high demand. This increase in demand is creating long waits for GPs to refer their patients for assessment and therapy. Therefore, it is imperative that the NHS improves its efficiency and ensures that quality of care is not compromised.
We accept referrals from service providers.
In England, the right to choose is applicable at the time of referral by GPs to first appointments with an outpatient. This is applicable to both physical and psychological conditions. The right to choose is available to those services that have an NHS standard contract with any CCG or NHS England (host commissioner) for the services required. This includes both community and national mental health services such as the Maudsley Hospital in London. It also includes regional and local providers that provide NHS-commissioned care.
Psychiatry-UK accepts NHS referrals from GPs as well as other healthcare professionals in England who want to assert their patient's legal right to select an ADHD assessment. This allows patients to get past the lengthy wait times associated with obtaining an ADHD diagnosis via the NHS e-Referral Service. We offer an online ADHD diagnosis and assessment service. This lets patients be seen by a psychiatrist in the comfort of their home.
Our service is available to health professionals, including GPs, who exercise their legal rights to choice to conduct an ADHD assessment for their patients, under NHS Right to Choose legislation. To refer a patient to the Psychiatry-UK, please complete our online ADHD assessment form. Once we receive the information, we will send a confirmation email to your GP or healthcare professional, acknowledging the receipt. We will also send an option to book an appointment to conduct the ADHD diagnosis and assessment within the maximum NHS waiting period of 18 weeks.
The current pandemic has resulted in an enormous increase in number of people being referred to mental health teams in the community for support. This has resulted in an increase in the demand for psychiatry assessments and an increased workload for staff. The rapid onset of the pandemic meant that it was difficult for doctors and other healthcare professionals to keep up with the number of referrals. This resulted in a large number of referrals that were not appropriate.
In response to this, we conducted a qualitative study nested within an experimental study that used randomised control to examine the effectiveness of a variety of strategies that aim to improve the quality of mental health referrals. Interviews with GPs and community mental health team consultants (CMHT) were conducted, as well as the recording of meetings for the distribution of referrals. The results of the study proved that the use of a bespoke referral pathway was an effective method of reducing the workload of GPs as well as CMHTs as well as providing patients with the choice they want to be treated efficiently.