General Practitioners: Mental Health Services

(asked on 12th December 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of Mind in its report, Better equipped, better care, published in November 2016, that 46 per cent of speciality trainee GPs in England and Wales gained practical experience of mental health services in 2015.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 19th December 2016

The Royal College of General Practitioners’ (GP) recommendation on how to learn this area of practice is by work placed learning in primary care where all trainees now have a minimum of 18 months experience. This is in addition to team work learning such as the toolkit specifically designed for primary care teams to evaluate the extent to which they and their practices promote mental health.

Many GP training programmes contain placements of varying length in psychiatry units. These will give exposure to patients with mental health problems but it is important that as a GP specialty trainee they also gain a broader understanding of mental health than can be obtained in the psychiatry ward or clinics.

Health Education England ensures that GP training is supplemented by courses in mental health and e-learning modules including innovative learning opportunities with other health professionals, including psychiatry trainees, with an emphasis on the importance of the team work required across health, social care and the third sector.

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