'I want others to access the therapy that helped me'

Rachel McGough says she experienced "obstacles" trying to get help with anxiety and depression from private providers

After suffering with anxiety and depression, Rachel McGough sought help from private providers.

But she was advised she was "too complex" for their service - and her treatment would need more than six sessions, she recalls.

She did get help - from the NHS's talking therapy service - and has recently been discharged after 23 one-to-one in-person sessions.

Now she fears that thousands of others across Derbyshire could be denied mental health support after the talking therapy service is set to move from NHS to private.

A 'special service'

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust told the BBC last month that it had decided not to bid for the contract to provide the service in the future, as the budget set by the Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) meant it was no longer affordable.

The ICB is now identifying new private providers with a budget of about £65m.

Nearly 30,000 people across Derbyshire access the service.

In contrast to her experience with private services, Ms McGough says the NHS was "the complete opposite". She was offered several sessions and a therapist who "wasn't watching the clock".

"Talking Mental Health Derby is a really special service," she says.

"[For people who can't access the NHS service], the only place is downwards. They will get more anxious, more depressed, more traumatised.

"And the people who are deemed too complex for those private services, I'm just terrified as to what cracks they'll fall through."

Aylish Rowan Aldred says the NHS often takes on patients who fall through the gaps

Aylish Rowan Aldred worked in the NHS talking therapy services for over a decade and recently retired.

She says she was "appalled" when she heard the NHS may no longer be able to provide the service in Derbyshire.

"Many private providers don't take on patients who are seen as too mild or too risky," she said.

"Derbyshire actually frequently saw people who were in that gap.

"People with more complex needs [will] totally not get anywhere near help.

"They'll be greater pressure on other health services; certainly more pressure on social services, possibly more pressure on police.

"[Private providers'] need is profit.

"Whereas the NHS... isn't in that position. They get an awful lot of people who are re-referred or referred directly because the other services couldn't or wouldn't take them on."

Heartbroken

Two current NHS staff have told the BBC anonymously their fears for the future of their patients.

One said: "I was so proud to get a job with the NHS after working in an area where all the service was offered by for-profit organisations.

"I am heartbroken... I have seen how care is denied or restricted when the organisation providing it is driven by profit."

Another has worked for the NHS for almost 20 years.

"The cumulative total of our years of experience and vast breadth of skills and professional qualifications that we hold between us is immeasurable and should not be lost by the NHS," they said.

"This news has left me feeling discarded and unvalued as an individual, and I have very serious concerns for the future wellbeing of all Derbyshire patients."

A spokesperson for the NHS Derbyshire ICB said: "We will work with existing and any new providers to ensure that there is a smooth transition of care for our patients.

"Any organisations successful through the tender process will be providing care under an NHS contract. This will remain an NHS-funded service which will be free to patients at the point of care; patients will not need to pay for the service, and this is no change from the existing arrangements."