Mental health nurses being introduced to cover every GP practice in West Lothian has been hailed ‘amazing’.
A total of 10 nurses will make up the Practice Mental Health Nurse Service team – an increase from two just three years ago – and they’ll be able to cover all 20 GP practices throughout the county.
The change means that if a patient contacts the GP for mental health-related reasons, they will be provided with an appointment with a specialist mental health nurse.
June Smillie, Team Leader for PMHN Service, explained the significance of this change to the Courier with the team having the capacity to deal with 1400 appointments per month.
She said: “There’s now a mental health nurse linked with all 20 GP practices across West Lothian, which is amazing.
“Three years ago we had two mental health nurses and now we’re up to 10 thanks to additional funding and we cover all of the GP practices in the area.
“If someone phones the GP and it’s more of a mental health concern then they get an appointment with a mental health nurse.
“We work together with the GPs. They have so much pressure and work to deal with as well as having to specialise in lots of different areas that this just helps ease their load a bit and also gets the patient in touch with a specialist first.
“It’s almost like a mini-NHS 24 service.”
She added: “We’ll have a chat and assess the patient and we have some brilliant partners and organisations that we work with – such as SMILE, Signpost, Wellbeing Scotland and many others as well as the Acute Care and Support Team at St John’s Hospital – who we can refer patients to if needed where they can find the right support.”
“Mental health is such a huge part of society and it’s amazing to be able to have this in West Lothian.
“Working at full capacity this gives us the ability to have 1400 appointments every month. We think it’s a huge thing for the people of West Lothian.”
Alison White, Director of West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership, added: “Mental ill health is one of the major public health challenges we face and it has been identified as an area where additional support is needed in primary care.
“GP practices are most people’s first point of contact, and it is important that there is a range of help and services available there. By introducing mental health nurses into our GP practices, we can deliver a more varied and comprehensive response for those seeking help.
“The practice mental health team can also liaise with and signpost people
to partner agencies who
can help with wider social and environmental needs, such as housing, employment or money problems, all of which can impact a person’s mental health if not addressed.”
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