Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies - Secondary Care Therapies Referrals

Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies - Secondary Care Therapies Referrals

Guidance and process for making secondary care referrals for Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies clients


Secondary care background information

The Local Mental Health Teams (LMHT) within Nottinghamshire provide services to adults with moderate to severe and/or enduring mental health problems between the ages of 18 and 65. Patients have to be registered with a Nottingham or Nottinghamshire GP. Each LMHT provides the function of daily triage, assessment, treatment, follow-up and joint working with key stakeholders and other providers of health and non-health services (for example social care, housing, employment, and education).  


Please follow the steps below if you identify that a client would meet the criteria for and benefit from support from a secondary care mental health team: 

  1. The treating clinician will notify the VHG network clinical oversight team by raising a clinical review request for the client within the session notes, broadly describing the need and clinical rationale for secondary care referral. 
  2. The treating clinician will complete a secondary care referral form (attached, please download for your reference) and email this to network.clinical@vitahealthgroup.zohodesk.eu 
  3. Using the attached spreadsheet and the client's GP details on MPB, please note on the referral form which LMHT the client needs referring to
  4. The VHG network clinical oversight team will confirm receipt and they may request further information from the therapist if required.  
  5. The VHG clinical oversight team will review the completed referral and if appropriate will send to Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies service to process. 
After review by the clinical team, the referral will then be triaged by the LMHT. The VHG network clinical oversight team will notify the allocated clinician of the outcome of the referral. 

Possible outcomes are as follows:

Not accepted
If the referral is deemed inappropriate for secondary care, the VHG network clinical oversight team will communicate this with a rationale and suggested next steps to treating clinician. Client to remain open on MPB and continue under current pathway with signposting advice/treatment recommendations.

Accepted
  1. Patient offered an assessment within the LMHT or EIP if suspected first presentation of psychosis /or 
  2. Patients offered treatment within LMHT if treatment needs clear /or
  3. Patient currently in crisis and needing more intensive input with Crisis team. 


If the client's care is transferred to another service:

  1. The allocated therapist will create a letter to be sent to client and GP confirming onward referral. Please see here for VHG clinical guidance on GP letters: GP letter clinical guidance (zohodesk.eu) and for guidance on how to generate a letter via MPB, see the technical guide here: Therapist User Manual - Creating a GP Letter (zohodesk.eu)
  2. Client to be discharged from Making People Better platform.  

If the client's care is not taken on by another service, the VHG clinical oversight team and allocated clinician will discuss and agree the next stage of the treatment plan collaboratively.