Mental health care for children at heart of Bishop's Stortford doctors' new services
Bishop's Stortford GPs are leading the way nationally in creating integrated health services.
Dr Sian Stanley, a partner at the Church Street Partnership, is clinical director of the Stort Valley and Villages Primary Care Network, which includes Stortford's three surgeries – South Street and Parsonage as well as Church Street – Central Surgery in Sawbridgeworth and Much Hadham Health Centre. Between them, they have more than 62,000 patients registered.
She was invited to a BMA (British Medical Association) conference in Birmingham to explain to other doctors how the town's GPs are already working together successfully.
While other professionals are just starting to get to grips with the primary care networks (PCNs), which were introduced to the National Health Service in England as part of the NHS Long Term Plan published in January 2019, Stortford's medics have stolen a march.
Dr Stanley said: "It allows us to determine local priorities with pre-emptive rather than reactive therapies."
The PCN has enabled the town's doctors to recruit social prescribers – or link workers – who take a holistic approach to health and well-being and connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.
After the successful recruitment of a social prescriber to help older patients, the GPs have now recruited an advisor to focus on mental health and other issues affecting those aged 11 to 25. A pharmacist and a counsellor for those with drug or alcohol problems are also part of the complementary team.
Dr Stanley said that 26,699 children and young people aged 5 to 16 in Hertfordshire and west Essex – or 11.2% of that age group – have a clinically diagnosable mental health problem.
In 2018-19, a total of 1,175 youngsters in Herts presented to medical services with a crisis. The GPs' aim is to enable early intervention and to relieve pressure on CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), which has a long waiting list.
This early intervention is also aimed at preventing problems developing in adulthood. Dr Stanley said: "It's about de-medicalising, about understanding teenage development and finding practical ways to help them get to where they want to be in life."
She likened the work of PCNs to building a house of stickle bricks where each component remains separate and easily divisible, but together the parts make a stronger, more effective structure.
Stort Valley and Villages is already working with groups including Carers in Hertfordshire, mental health charity Mind and the Thirst youth café in South Street to improve outcomes.
Church Street Partnership was due to showcase its services – including youth, dementia and cancer care provision – at an event at the New Apton Centre in Apton Road on April 25, but the coronavirus outbreak means that is now highly unlikely to go ahead.
