Blackpool counselling service under pressure after alleged influx of NHS patient referrals

Derby Road-based mental health service Counselling in the Community continues to face financial pressure as more people were allegedly being sent there by NHS service Mindsmatter.

Mindsmatter is the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service part of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

It provides a range of free psychological therapies to people aged 16 and over in Lancashire.

Since restrictions eased, Counselling in the Community has been forced to open seven days a week to keep up with demand from Fylde coast residents suffering with their mental health, despite receiving no funding.

Stuart Hutton-Brown, manager and founder of the counselling service, explained that in the past week alone his team had seen 97 people - increasing from an average of 50 this time last year.

Mr Hutton-Brown was forced to sell his car last year in a bid to ensure Counselling in the Community's survival - yet he said Lancashire NHS service Mindsmatter continues to refer patients to him without his knowledge.

"Each time we see someone we ask them, how did you hear about us? And at least 60 per cent of the time they tell us it was through Mindsmatter," Stuart said.

"We've just acquired another unit down Waterloo Road to take the pressure off this one, because we only have four counselling rooms so sometimes we can't fit people in.

"We're running at maximum, during most evenings of the week now as well as weekends.

"We wanted to open the new unit this month, but we're spending more at the Derby Road unit and it's all taken out of our project money.

"Someone contacted us this week and said they were told to call us by Mindsmatter because they'd be seen quicker.

"I received an email from them last year asking us about our service, and saying they wanted to work with us. But when I'd sent all the information back the flood gates opened and I heard nothing back. That's not working with us, that's passing people to us."

Patients visiting Counselling in the Community are not required to pay for the service and it runs on donations alone - resulting in huge financial pressures as numbers increase.

Mindsmatter encourages anyone suffering with their mental health to refer themselves to its service, but Mr Hutton-Brown said he believed many people opting to do so were being referred to him instead.

He continued: "We would never turn anyone away who needed help, but I feel like our good nature is being tested, and it's just not on.

"What's wrong about this is mental health services in the area work in solos, if we were to all work together life would become a lot easier."

A spokesman for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust said: "Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust does not provide these services in

the Blackpool area but will contact Counselling in the Community so that we can help with advice and support.

"Working in partnership with other providers of mental health services and our communities across Lancashire and South Cumbria is really important to us, to ensure people have access to the most appropriate service for their needs."

In October 2019, Fylde Coast Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) assured Mr Hutton-Brown it would "engage with Counselling in the Community to discuss future commissioning arrangements" as the service faced financial struggles.

But he said despite being told he would be helped, the CCG "hadn't done anything."

After being contacted by the Gazette, the CCG invited Stuart to a meeting to enter into talks about co-producing "community mental health transformation funding."

When asked why a year had passed before communications were made, the CCG said it had reached out to Mr Hutton-Brown in January inviting him to a meeting, which he was unable to attend.

It also said that between April 1 and August 31, 1408 members of the public had accessed treatment via Blackpool mental health service Supporting Minds.

A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals confirmed that Supporting Minds does not refer patients to Counselling in the Community, but instead encourages patients to access its own services.

In Blackpool, mental health patients can expect a "welcome call" from Supporting Minds two to four weeks after self-referral, but a one-to-one service is currently a three to seven week-long wait.

The current longest waiting time for high intensity therapy such as cognitive behavioural therapy is 188 days, the CCG confirmed.

A spokesman for the Fylde Coast Clinical Commissioning Group said: "Fylde Coast CCGs value all of the contributions that voluntary and faith sector organisations make to the care and wellbeing of our local communities and individuals.

"Fylde Coast CCGs are happy to facilitate discussions between Supporting Minds, Mindsmatter and Counselling in the Community around referral pathways, and will be meeting with them to investigate this.

"Blackpool CCG commission a range of mental health services to meet different needs; waiting times vary according to the individual service and other factors including urgency of referral, presentation and patient choice."