Information for GPs and other professionals

CMHS work with people with a range of mental health difficulties that cause significant distress and impacts their functioning. This includes acute and enduring depression and anxiety, Complex Emotional Needs (also referred to as Complex PTSD and  Personality Disorders) and Severe and Enduring Mental Illness (including Psychosis and Bi-polar).

We will link people in with other more specialist mental health services as needed, for example Assertive Outreach Team or Early Intervention for Psychosis.

We also offer medication support to people who have severe mental health condition alongside ADHD, when the medication is complex and may require more specialist knowledge.

If you are looking to refer someone for an ADHD assessment only, please see Somerset ADHD Service

For people needing a referral for treatment for an Eating Disorders  (Anorexia Nervosa or Binge Eating Disorder) please call the Eating Disorder Service on 01749 836568

Talking Therapies (formally known as IAPT) is a more suitable service for people struggling with mild-to-moderate anxiety and depression. Talking Therapies offers short-term, time-limited treatments for anxiety and depression. They also support people to cope better if they have experienced a single traumatic event (e.g. car accident or assault), or if they are struggling to live with a long-term physical health condition such as diabetes, heart failure or breathing difficulties.

Talking Therapies will do an initial screening and assessment and if they think it is more suitable for CMHS they will bring the referral to us.

People can self-refer to Talking Therapies at Talking Therapies Self-Referral.

If you are referring a person for a dementia assessment, please refer to: SPADASS@somersetft.nhs.uk

There are numerous ways to refer to us.

You can refer to the Open Mental Health alliance:

• Self-Referral – People aged over 18yrs can contact Open Mental Health directly, by calling Mindline on 01823 276 892.  When a person contacts Open Mental Health – VCFSE alliance, their referral comes to a centralised point where all the services (including CMHS) consider who is best placed to support the person.
• Professional referral – By completing the professional/ other agency referral form on the Open Mental Health Use link How to Refer – Open Mental Health. Again, the referral will come to a centralised point where all services within the Open Mental Health – VCFSE alliance are considered.

Please see the link at the top right hand side of this page for more Open Mental Health information.

OR

You can refer directly into CMHS by:

• Completing a first contact form (For GPs this can be found on EMIS under ‘external views’ and then ‘Black Pear Core’).
• E-mailing your referral to our Single Point of Access e-mail address for the respective area. The relevant e-mail addresses for each locality are:

Bridgwater

CMHTBridgwaterSPA@SomersetFT.nhs.uk

Mendip

CMHTMendipSPA@SomersetFT.nhs.uk

Minehead

CMHSMineheadSPA@somersetft.nhs.uk

Taunton

CMHSTauntonSPA@somersetft.nhs.uk

South Somerset

CMHTSouthSomersetSPA@SomersetFT.nhs.uk

When CMHS receive a referral there is key information that we require to best understand how we can support your patient. This key information is:

• patient name and DoB
• patient contact details, and any preferences with contact
• summary of the presenting mental health problem, and how it is impacting them.
• any related treatment or referrals
• information around the patient’s risk factors, including risk of harm to self or others.
• letting us know that the patient has consented to the referral
• relevant medical history

Please note this information helps us determine the correct team or worker for the individual. If we do not have this key information your referral may be sent back requesting additional information.

All referrals, regardless of referral route, are considered in terms of the Open Mental Health partnership. This means you only need to refer to Open Mental Health or CMHS to access the other services within the partnership. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘no wrong door’ principle.

It is then decided which team within Open Mental Health would best support the patient to achieve their goals or meet their needs. This could be numerous services or just one. If CMHS is included within this, the referral will be discussed in a multi-disciplinary meeting to decide what the first steps would be. All patients will be invited to have a mental health consultation, and their care plan will be captured within Dialog +. To support joined up care, GPs can see a person’s Dialog care plan through EMIS.  The clinician and patient will consider which needs they feel are a priority and what help could be available. The clinician will look to make a warm introduction to the person or team that will be working with them to improve their mental health. Again, this may be within the CMHS or other options in the Open Mental Health partnership.

We understand for a lot of patients, being diagnosed is a validating experience that helps them gain an understanding of their difficulties and informs a treatment plan.

However, the clinical model for the CMHS is to consider the presenting needs of the person,  and agree what approaches could support their mental health recovery. If having a diagnosis would significantly inform the treatment outcome then this may form part of a person’s care plan. However, the CMHS does not routinely accept referrals for diagnosis only.

We do recognise that with changes in government policies around benefits that there will be an increased need for diagnosis, and it is an emotive subject. We are reviewing this with our senior teams to try and come to a decision on how we will approach this going forward.