Break state monopoly over mental health counselling, urges report

Reliance on narrow range of therapies is failing patients and the NHS is failing to offer the mentally ill a full choice of psychological counselling and therapies, according to a report published by the Centre for Social Justice.

The report, Commissioning Effective Talking Therapies, is highly critical of the NHS’s talking therapy service and urges the NHS to slash its red tape and use therapists from the private and voluntary sector to allow people more choice, improved services and equal access.

 At present, many therapies offered by specialists in the private and voluntary sector are not yet recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Benjamin Fry, the co-author of the report and psychotherapist with his own private practice, said: “The needs of those who cannot afford to pay for treatment but whose recovery will not be achieved through the limited range of therapies Improving Access to Psychological Therapies offers, are going unmet.

“The much smaller non-IAPT services in the NHS employ a far wider range of therapies than IAPT and still adhere to the patient safety aspects of NICE guidelines very strictly and successfully.”