British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy CEO calls for GPs in Northern Ireland to improve the provision of in house counselling services. In an open letter to the HSCB from BACP it is highlighted that GPs are the first port of call for more than 90% of people worried about their mental health. Despite this and the fact that one in three appointments are about mental health a third of GPs in Northern Ireland do not offer access to practiced based counselling. Dr Hayden Williams says:’At a time when rates of mental ill health and suicide in Northern Ireland are rising, all GP practices must be able to provide equal access to talking therapies. For access to a counsellor in a GP practice to remain a postcode lottery, as it is currently, would be deeply unjust.’
BACP Round up, Therapy Today, October 2018.