Providing a psychotherapy service to an inner London catchment area

Abstract

This paper discusses the implications of attempting to provide appropriate psychological therapy for all patients referred from a defined inner London catchment area. The provision of psychotherapy in a single general practice in the catchment area has also been studied. Cognitive Analytic Therapy, a brief focused treatment, was most often offered. Between 39% and 71% of all referrals to secondary care services were judged to require primarily psychological treatment, and approximately 1 in 65 general practice attenders received some form of counselling. Therapy costs for this provision were calculated. They vary greatly with the number of therapy sessions offered to each patient.