What we have learnt and where do we go from here?

‘Since March 2018, the Islington Practice-Based Mental Health team has been located in all of the Borough’s GP practices, immersed in the world of primary care.  Fostering close working relationships with GPs and their colleagues, we can deepen a holistic understanding of our patients’ struggles.  Frequently we find that basic needs have not been or continue not being met.  We are witnesses to material poverty, poverty of relationships, poverty of containment and care.  In our collaboration with one another we have the chance to make sense of this distress, to act as advocates when possible, and to build bridges with the local community’.

One in three GP consultations has a direct and explicit emotional component. As there are no objective biomedical tests for the diagnosis of emotional problems, the identification of these concerns is achieved wholly though GP-patient communication. GP-patient communication also plays a role in the management of emotional concerns, with patients commonly report valuing aspects of the consultation related to the interaction with their GP. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a new model of the consultation focusing on supporting GPs to effectively communicate with patients with emotional problems. We used focus groups with GPs and patients, and a review of the literature, to explore the challenges around caring for patients with emotional problems in primary care, and priorities for improving practice. This talk will discuss the developing model and different approaches to the consultation.