How the NHS fails mental health 

The loss of an experienced and compassionate GP to the NHS should be ringing warning bells to the government.

The mental health crisis is real and waiting for an appointments is shameful . Where I live in the uk it takes one month to see a GP and the mental health access team prioritise patients depending on their needs. Anyone with mental health issues, not matter what their needs are should be assessed and treated with care. The system has let down so many patients and families.

My brother was suffering with mental health issues in the UK. I was astounded (I live in the US now) at the little help he got. Even though I live in the US, I was able to fly over often. He was allowed antianxiety meds which helped him immensely for just 10 days for fear he would become addicted! These problems don't get cured in 10 days. Monitoring would have made more sense. It got to the point where he would not leave his bedroom. We found later that all of the correspondence was in letter form. We found the pile by his letterbox/front door after he took his own life. The final letter saying if he did not respond by a certain date...etc. People suffering do not open mail/post. I am not sure what the answer is. I am not sure the NHS has the money to fix this issue. I do know that the system now lets people down. I feel for every family that is trying to support a family member with mental health issues because they suffer too.

I think your patients must have truly appreciated you when you were a doctor. Your warmth and compassion, plus the ability to explain things clearly is not a given in the medical field. It’s unfortunate there wasn’t a way for you continue to practice, where you felt comfortable doing so.

What you experienced with the lady that had psychosis is exactly what happened with my brother. We believe he's also autistic. We managed to get him to a GP (he's in his late 30s) after violent episodes in the family home and snuck a desperate note to the GP that saw him. The note detailed his violent episodes and delusions. My brother articulated himself like a normal person during the appointment and the GP signed him off as fine. This was in North Wales. I was gobsmacked and so disappointed. Equally, I had to go through something quite traumatic in 2018 of which I was told over and over that it was guaranteed therapy regardless. I've never been able to get the therapy due to the waiting lists being, at times, two years long. I'm young and moving around the country for work. It's just not good enough. Doctors are very keen to throw anti-depressants my way instead. That's not unravelling my trauma, it's just padding it. Fast forward to today in 2023, I can't believe the state of the NHS and I fear where it is headed. Wouldn't surprise me if it's a key factor in the next GE. It's hanging on by the thinnest thread. I feel so sorry for anyone struggling to get the help they need. Final point, some of the staff that are left have been quite spiteful in my experience but try raising a complaint. My complaint is in an 'unprecedented backlog of complaints'.

Hi Emma. I’m a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and left the NHS 3 years ago because of this exact issue. I now work in the private sector and actually feel for the first time in my career that I have the time and resources to help my patients. It’s a really sad state of affairs and I do worry about the number of people struggling with their mental health who are unable to access services. But it’s not just Tier 4 services that are struggling, it’s all the support services such as social care and other local services that have been disbanded, which puts more pressure on mental health teams.

I once took an overdose in front of mental health nurses and they did nothing to help me and their excuse was "You have mental capacity to make your own decisions" despite having big cuts all over my arms and I’ve been debating with the crisis team endlessly about my diagnosis. Whenever I get sectioned, I am only kept in hospital for 2 days and they dump me on other services. It’s disgusting what they the NHS are doing to their patients.

Thank you thank you, I suffer from bipolar , I’m 44 and know my condition well, the hardest part was the gps, it was horrendous to get multi-professional intervention etc, you have raised such a valid point(s), please keep up your channel, ive now completed a psychology degree , I’m a massive believer in self education, and unfortunately I found (due to terrible treatment ), I also had to familiarise myself with nhs law, all this from someone who not only suffers bipolar, but adhd, i know …careless, and who ..? …the patient, . Please keep doing what your doing ❤❤❤

So... by asking for help, it actually made problems worse. Yup. Sounds like my experience.

Such GREAT comparisons! Allllll soooo lovely! Especially the LYXBAG tote. Their styles are so chic, sleek, elegant and understated!

Have you ever thought of doing a TED Talk Emma?

What about the mental health of NHS practitioners? some people I know get burned out and it does not look like they have access to a lot of resources...

❤love these med videos Emma! You sound like a lovely GP who fights for their patients. Thanks for shedding light on an area that often gets glossed over or ignored. 😊

Your medical videos are very informative - thank you! While I don't have too much experience with patients with psychological mental health issues, as a radiographer, I've scanned hundreds of patients referred with suspected neurological conditions. For some of them, it has been family members who have spotted a change in behaviour/ personality and have managed to persuade the patient to see their gp - for those of us who don't know the patient, they seem perfectly normal. I remember one patient whose family were so worried that they took away his car keys, as they were concerned about his (and other roads users) safety on the roads. The scan showed multiple brain metastases, which were totally unexpected, my radiologist managed to get this patient admitted, and as the ward was next to our MRI unit I took the patient across myself - his daughter in law was in tears because she was so greatful that something was (hopefully) being done to help him. While I'd say the Danish health service has a lot of issues atm, it doesn't seem to be quite so far out as in the UK, but one area that has been starved of resources for many years is mental health. While there is a temporary focus on other healthcare specialities, mental health always seems to miss out.

The NHS mental health sytsem is totally boken. After 16 years looking after my son who has schizoaffective disorder Im feeling suicidal myself. Today I was told that his long awaited appointment with psychologist ( having gone through assesment meetings and him finally being told he could start next week) has been cancelled as he moving to Community Care and will need to see their psychologist....but " there is a long waiting list". Meanwhile he wont eat or drink anything without me assuring him its not " poisoned" hence I cant leave the house, and am woken up to 6 times times a night when he needs reassurance that hes not poisoned....its a f****king joke.....

Its not a problem confined to the UK. My 9 year old grandson presented at Mount Sinai hospital, New York last week with belly pain . The great doctors there refused to do a cat scan to rule out appendicitis . A full week later of messing around and finally they did the bloody scan and he had three appendix accesses. Emma they drained the accesses wit interventional radiology and still haven't taken the appendix. He is home with the drain and recommend that he have the appendix removed in 3 months. Best of all my son is a doctor at the same hospital and so is my husband. Absolute incompetence and arrogance . Any hospital in the third world would have picked up a hot appendix.

Such a thoughtful and thought-provoking video. Thanks, Emma.

In my local area we use to have a small village GP AND a large out of town practice. During Covid the village GP closed as no one wanted to take over when the head of the practice retired which put huge strain on the other practice, particularly when over the last 10 years hundreds of new houses have been built within the catchment area.

Eating disorders bmi rule is ludicrous, as things like bulimia, binge eating disorder and RFID are very real and don’t always result in low bmi’s but can still cause health issues. Sadly if they cause a high weight a lot of the time the GP is told to send them to weight watchers or tell them to excercise more…

I had no clue how serious the pressure on GPs was, thank you for sharing :(

I'm pretty sure this is a universal problem. I have an HMO in the US. While I didn't have trouble getting a referral for mental health services, even with my referral I had to wait 6 months to get an appointment for counseling. I had to call multiple times and pass multiple evaluations, and I was given no choice over who my counselor would be, and no consideration was given to what my needs were and setting me up with a clinician whose specialization matched up with my conditions. If I don't feel comfortable with whomever they match me with, or their therapeutic approach doesn't work for my needs, I need wait months again for an intake appointment with a new therapist. And once you get in with a therapist, they typically only have availability to see you once a month at most. I asked for a referral to go out-of-network since there were so few appointments available. I got approved, but then they gave me a list of providers and I had to call 8 different therapists before I found one who would meet with me. 6 of them didn't even bother to return my call. 1 refused to see me because he "doesn't work with people in crisis." They make you jump through a million hoops and persevere so much to get access to help. It should be the opposite. It's hard enough to reach out for help when you are struggling, especially with depression. They should make it as easy as possible.

I really appreciate this video and could relate to what you mention, Sadly I’ve been on a waiting list for multiple years and still waiting. I tried turning private but it was just a ginormous waste of my hard-earned savings, and felt incredibly exploitative, so not exactly the help I signed up for. My GP is great but sadly that didn’t prevent me from continuously being traumatised by both national and private healthcare. I sometimes feel bad for her too, as she goes out of her way to help me, and here I am, with minuscule energies to keep going.

Sadly it’s similar here in Ireland with the HSE (health service executive). My sister just graduated as an OT & it’s wild what she experienced on work placements etc or heard her lectures talk about. There is so many holes in the system

I echo the other comments Emma, very thoughtful of you to do this. Many thanks

Honest to god as a 44yr old Irishman with mental health, you put a tear in my eye, thank u❤

This is very informative and very well put together. Thank you 🙂

Perhaps a discussion could be had about mental health misdiagnosis and the cycle of poor physical health > pinged around CMH services. Interesting to maybe see a GP opinion.

I'm a Nurse in the U.S./California and it's been very interesting watching your Healthcare topics. Healthcare is a global issue that should be prioritized. Some in the U.S. think socialized medicine is the answer but seems like it's very challenging there also. Would be interesting to compare Healthcare in different countries and if anyone comes close to an ideal Healthcare system.

Outside of emergency care the system is very poor

Hi Emma, this was extremely helpful, thank you cery much for sharing. I think you are a very talented, committed and competent doctor anf it's sad you are not practicing any longer ...i was wondering if you javd ever considered practicing as a private GP. Thank you xxxC

Was not happy having the NHS consider high functioning autism or Asperger's as an SMI or "severe mental illness". This was really upsetting as the condition is neither severe nor an illness but a neurodevelopmental condition. They could have said "mental health check to make sure you are alright" on the phone, not an SMI check in this instance. The term "SMI" seems cold, stigmatizing, and insensitive, causing considerable emotional distress to those more vulnerable and susceptible.

❤❤❤Great video, Emma! Btw, you look like an 18 year old cheerleader with that hair. I love it! Such a youthful look for you. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😁👍🏻

We need more ppl like you❤

An excellent & informative video. Thank you 💜

Thank you for sharing this! ❤

Failed me too

Have you considered going into a specialty?

Я приехала в Великобритании после начала войны на Украине с несовершеннолетним ребенком, который уже тогда страдал Self-harm and sleep disorders. Я надеялась на помощь. Уже через два месяца я пошла на работу. Я очень надеялась на помощь, потому что нам красиво обещали. К сожалению, я не знала тогда как работает система. А система дождалась совершеннолетия ребенка и пнула подальше. Великобритания тратит миллиарды на войну в Украине, а я бы предпочла, чтобы эти деньги шли на поддержку и лечение поломанных душ. Если говорить о налогах, которые платят британцы, то неужели выгоднее запускать ментальные болезни и лечить потом еще тех, кто заботился, но потом сломался? Я пытаюсь работать, чтобы жить не на пособие, а на свои деньги. Но у меня нет сил, нет энергии работать в полную силу. Теперь уже и у меня начались панические атаки. Как я могу поддерживать своего ребенка? Я каждое утро собираю себя по кусочкам, а мне еще надо помочь держаться ребенку. И в это уже вовлечены соседи, прекрасные отзывчивые люди. Я могла бы дать обществу много. Япрофессиональная оперная певица и имею большой опыт работы как портная. В украине я учила детей шить и петь, в Англии давала благотворительные концерты. Вы можете проверить на моем канале. А теперь я не могу помочь даже себе и теперь я тоже заразилась мыслями о суициде (;)

GP never helped. They only care about money