GP ACCESS Project

There are significant challenges for individuals facing mental health challenges in gaining support from GP Surgeries. Finding an appointment at an 8am call, regulating medication and prescriptions, explaining your needs or condition and accessing regular contact that you may need are just some of the factors at play.

ReThink’s Mental Health Collaborative, working with local partners including Space to Breathe and building on the pioneering work by Tammy Raines are now looking for GP Surgeries to host listening spaces (creative and artistic) which enable people to share their views.

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VCSE ORGANISATIONS

Click here to find out how to get involved as a VCSE organisation.

VISIT VCSE PAGES

PILOT PROJECT

We ran a pilot project in Chapelgreen. Find out more.

Find out more

RESOURCES FOR EXPERTS BY EXPERIENCE

Click here for details of the resources available to deliver listening spaces.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

COMPLETE OUR ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE

As well as face to face listening spaces, you can complete an online questionnaire

TAKE SURVEY

STORIES ABOUT THE GP ACCESS PROJECT

Featured
GP Access Update: BBC Sheffield and a new Wellbeing Group
NHS, GP Access
GP Access Update: BBC Sheffield and a new Wellbeing Group
NHS, GP Access

Latest developments on the GP Access Project including a feature on BBC Radio Sheffield and a new Wellbeing Group starting in Chapelgreen Surgery

NHS, GP Access
Improving Mental Health Access to GP Surgeries
GP Access
Improving Mental Health Access to GP Surgeries
GP Access

We’ve just published our pilot study around GP Access for people struggling with their Mental Health. Find our more

GP Access
Introducing the GP Access Project
GP Access
Introducing the GP Access Project
GP Access

Find out more about ways you can share your opinions on getting mental health support at GP Surgeries through the GP Access Project

GP Access

GP ACCESS Project pilot

We partnered with Burncross Surgery and Healthwatch Sheffield and working with wellbeing workers from across the city to ask what would improve your access to GP Surgery support when you’re struggling with your mental health. Our initial pilot focused on Chapelgreen Surgery and a cross city online questionnaire. Our full report is below and can be downloaded via the button.

This infographic shares the key findings.

In the long term, we aim to bring these events to the rest of Sheffield surgeries. This pilot event will be crucial in enabling us to trial our ideas and listen to local people. We’ll feedback all the findings on this website and through other mental health platforms across the city.

why is this study important?

For people struggling with their mental health, access to support at a GP Surgery can be a challenge, yet GP Surgeries are often gatekeepers to medication, therapy and support. One challenge is making appointments, with many surgeries require you to phone at 8am to make an appointment, yet when you’re struggling with your wellbeing, this time of day can be hard. The NHS report that between 2021 and 2022 satisfaction at the appointment system declined from 71% to 56% (NHS data.) Does the appointment system create a barrier for you? What other barriers exist?

For some this feels like a game of snakes & ladders …

With opportunities for care and support but also barriers that exist that make it harder for your to get care. We’d love to hear your experiences.

Our colleague, Tammy Raines (an Expert by Experience from Re:Think Mental Health) has been doing research into key questions for some time and we’re delighted to be working with her. These include:

  • How easy or hard is it to access support at your GP Surgery if you’re struggling with your wellbeing?

  • What would improve the support you receive and what insights can you bring to help us improve things?

  • What ways can we work with staff to make access to support a better experience?

We have chosen this area of focus because a GP surgery central to a person’s mental health journey. It is the first point of call, the place of referral, where you are prescribed medication, going for check-ups. Ultimately it is your place of local connection. This therefore feels like a crucial cog in the process of making mental health support easier in the city. We want to highlight:

• Key areas of challenge both for patients and surgery staff

• Emotions and feelings about the process

• Listen to people who aren’t normally heard

• Establish what the barriers are in a surgery-based pilot.

• Seek to share these findings across the PC network.

Ultimately, we would aim to improve the experience of people struggling with mental health challenges in their engagement with GP surgeries across the city and also the experience of staff working in those surgeries.

If you want to ask any questions or find out more email us at info@spacetobreatheuk.com

This project is kindly enabled by Speak Up Grants from Healthwatch Sheffield.

WHAT WE DID …

VCSE OPPORTUNITIES

Follow up from the GP listening exercises will often result in follow up projects. In Chapelgreen, a Wellbeing Group in the surgery emerged. We are looking for VCSE organisations interested in the project to make expressions of interest and to find out more. We presented their ideas to a group of local organisations on 19th November. You can find the slides below.

You can express your interest here.

TRAINING AND EQUIPPING RESOURCES

Please find below all the resources you need for delivering a listening space.

LINK FOR QUESTIONNAIRE

The online questionnaire is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K5W2MWM.

You can offer people the chance to use a QR which can be downloaded here.

SLIDES FROM THE TRAINING

You can download the notes from the training below.

These other resources might also be useful.

For more information or to ask any questions, email Anita at Anita.huckerby@rethink.org