Over the last few months, we've been developing and delivering a pilot training scheme in GP surgeries in Lewisham and North Staffordshire to improve healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour around mental health.
The training was designed after research showed that people with mental health problems are still facing a significant amount of discrimination in primary care services. Nine in 10 people with a mental health problem are only seen in primary care, so it’s vital that they are able to receive the support they need without facing prejudice.
As part of the project, which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund, trainers – who have themselves experienced mental health problems - worked with everyone from GPs and nurses to reception staff to deliver two specially designed training tools. This approach has been taken following the evaluation of an earlier pilot among primary care staff, which found that when asked whether they would be willing to work with someone who had a mental health problem, 76 per cent of them agreed before the training and 92% agreed afterwards.
The 10 minute training tool
Primary care staff received a 10 minute face-to-face conversation with a trainer (a Time to Change involvement worker), in which the trainer shared their experience of primary care and also stories of the stigma or discrimination they faced in primary care. Then, they both worked together to agree ways they could make adjustments to their practice such as having leaflets and posters available for patients about mental health problems.
This video shows sessions in progress and hears from the team of trainers and primary care staff about what the project meant to them:
In addition, an online training tool was set up so that GPs and primary care staff could continue their learning in their own time. It brought together bitesize information and links to resources to make the training more feasible for busy surgeries. Three topics were covered including; ‘Being more mental health aware’ - a one stop resource for general mental health information; ‘Making adjustments in surgeries’ to get staff thinking about reasonable adjustments that might be needed - a real life example of this is how a GP who had a patient with Agoraphobia allowed them to come to back door of the surgery so they didn’t have to go into busy waiting area; and ‘Physical vs mental health’ which brings together resources to help people working in primary care look after people’s mental and physical health.
To find out more about the training pilot and how you can commission this training for your practice, visit the project website: www.ttcprimarycare.org.uk
Dr Hilary Entwistle from the Woolstone Road Medical Centre said: “Everybody should do this training. It’s the best I’ve had in years!”