Re-think on bid to axe Buckinghamshire counselling (From Bucks Free Press)

Re-think on bid to axe Buckinghamshire counselling

12:21pm Monday 15th February 2010 in

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HEALTH bosses are to re-visit controversial plans to axe counselling services.

They were poised to axe ‘generic’ counselling from GP surgeries from April 1 in a move that would save £223,000.

The plans caused an outcry from some GPs and mental health groups – and NHS Buckinghamshire says it is now looking again at the plans.

Yet its bosses says cuts are still expected for counselling as they believe the service is not as effective as other techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Dr Geoff Payne, the NHSB’s GP lead, said: “We are now looking at a substantial change to that decision.”

He told a health watchdog: “The intention is still to discontinue these services while we re-commission and re-focus services.”

Dr Payne pledged consultation on the new plans – but warned a delay could result in a ‘significant financial penalty’ on the cash-strapped authority.

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Carolyn Smyth, chief executive of charity Bucks MIND, which stands to lose counselling contracts, said she was ‘delighted’ by the news.

She said: “We are maybe looking at a more realistic picture of an appropriate range of therapies.”

Yet she hit out at a ‘flawed process’ and ‘secrecy’ over the original decision and claimed she had not been consulted. NHSB boss Kurt Moxley said he ‘can’t explain that at all’.

And Councillor Mike Appleyard, chairman of the Buckinghamshire County Council watchdog committee, said his members were not consulted either.

He said: “A decision was made without our knowing about that. That puts us in a very difficult position.”

Yet he backed more use of CBT. He said: “There is a real improvement on the way.”

Mr Moxley said counselling is ‘patchy’ with 12 per cent getting the first step of support and 50 per cent offered the final, most severe step.

The NHS’s Health Minds service, based on CBT, was on course to hit a target to see 13,000 people, he said. Government has urged authorities to use CBT more, he said.

People can self-refer to this, he said, whereas some ‘never got anywhere’ when trying to get counselling through a GP.

A presentation he gave to councillors says thirty years of research has reached ‘no firm conclusions’ on the benefits of counselling.

But it found: “Despite the paucity of evidence, there is a passionate belief in the benefits of counselling amongst counsellors, GPs and patients.”

They were speaking to the council’s overview and scrutiny committee for public health services on Friday.

Click the links below for full reports considered by the committee and our first report on the plans.