NHS England and the South East London Integrated Care System have recently conducted a review of Mental Health Services at both a national and regional level. The review has focussed on how people access these services. Two key changes are being made to the Bromley NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service:
1. Changing the name of IAPT to NHS Talking Therapies: Following an extensive national consultation process, NHS England national mental health team have announced that NHS Talking Therapies will replace Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. This is part of a national rebranding exercise, where all IAPT services will use the same name across the country by the end of 2023.
2. Changing referrals from GP-based to residency-based: In England, there has been an ongoing discussion about changing how people access mental health services. Currently, services are accessed based on where a person’s GP is located. The new proposal is to change this so that access to health services is based on where a person lives. Mental Health Services across South East London are following these recommendations.
From 1 August, this means:
- Talk together Bromley will be renamed NHS Talking Therapies Bromley.
- How people refer will change from adults over 18 who are registered with a Bromley GP to adults over 18 who live in the London Borough of Bromley.
How will these changes affect people in Bromley and neighbouring areas?
- All residents of Bromley over the age of 18 can now access NHS Bromley Talking Therapies based on where they live.
- Non-Bromley residents over the age of 18 with a Bromley GP (for example, those living in Greenwich, Bexley and Kent) will need to access a similar service in the area where they live.
- If you are unsure of your area of residency, please visit this site to find out which area you would fall under: Find your local council – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- The changes will not affect anyone on the current waitlist or those in treatment with Talk together Bromley. They will continue to receive their care as usual, regardless of where they live or where their GP is registered.
- It does not include referrals to specialist mental health services, such as forensic, eating disorder, perinatal services, and crisis/emergency situations.
Please note that adults over 18 can still self-refer or can be referred by their GP, using their postcode rather than name/location of their GP.
Why is the NHS making these changes?
Changing the name of IAPT / Talk together Bromley to NHS Bromley Talking Therapies
- NHS England conducted a review of IAPT last year. NHS Talking Therapies has been voted the most accessible name, and the easiest one to understand, by a wide range of NHS staff, charities, patients and the general public. It will be accompanied with a tagline ‘for anxiety and depression’, to provide clarity on what conditions the service is for and to support appropriate referrals.
- Our name may be changing to NHS Bromley Talking Therapies but this change won’t affect our team or the care they provide.
- As we are now entering the implementation phase of the new name, teams are working to update all channels, including our website, to reflect the name change.
- Our website will remain accessible by using the current URL address: Talk together Bromley.co.uk. This will stay in place for the next few months.
- If you’d like to learn more about how NHS Talking Therapies can support you if you’re feeling stressed, low or worried, visit the South East London help page:
Talking Therapies – Freeyourmind (nhsfreeyourmind.co.uk)