MPs Meg Hillier and Meg Munn visted the award-winning Primary Care Psychotherapy Consultation Service (PCPCS) today.

The PCPCS, based in Meg Hillier's constituency of Hackney South and Shoreditch, was set up and designed by GPs to help GPs provide better support to patients presenting with complex mental health needs and medically unexplained symptoms.

Meg and Meg met members of the multi-disciplinary team, including Psychoanlytic Council registrant and PCPCS Service Lead Dr Brian Rock, and were interested to learn about the unique and effective service model.

The PCPCS takes on 40 - 50 patient referrals a month and delivers a range of psychological therapies which lead to improvements in mental health for 75% of its patients and significant recovery for 55% of its patients. 

The service is also highly cost-effective - reducing the number of GP consultations, A & E visits, outpatient appointments and hospital admissions among its patients.  A typical course of treatment lasts for 12 -13 sessions, at an estimated £1,348 per patient, with subsequent savings of £463 from reduced health service use.

At a time when people with complex mental health needs often fall between the gaps in current NHS service provision, the PCPCS presents a dynamic and thriving service model, ripe for replication across the country.

(In photo: from left to right, Ahmet Caglar, Community Project Officer, Meg Munn, Meg Hillier, Brian Rock, Service Lead and Consultant Clinical Psychologist)