Talking therapies set to move from NHS to private

Sunita Thind has recently started talking therapy in Derby

An NHS trust is to stop providing talking therapy services used by nearly 30,000 people across Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust told the BBC it had decided not to bid for the contract to provide the mental health services 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.

It said it could not comment as the tender process was ongoing.

The trust's website describes the therapies as "a way to explore your difficulties with a trained professional, gain a new understanding of your problems and plan what you want to do to overcome them".

Treatment offered includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), counselling and specialised counselling for depression.

The service, free to access with the support funded by the ICB, is used by about 28,000 people across Derbyshire.

In a statement, the trust said it had "provided high-quality talking therapy services for the last 15 years and our feedback and outcomes have consistently been exceptional".

It will stop providing the service in June 2025 but pledged to continue to support users as well as staff while the transition to new arrangements take place.

'Profits over care'

The trust is one of several providers of talking therapy services within Derbyshire.

The largest, Trent PTS, recently noted the cost pressures associated with providing the service given that “funding levels have not increased since 2021.”

It will no longer provide the service from next year.

“During this period, Trent have had to absorb several NHS pay rises, impacting pay, pension and NI expenditure," it said.

"In 2023, no uplift has been applied to the contract tariffs despite a 5% increase in NHS pay."

It said the lack of uplift meant it had to absorb over £400,000 in increased salary costs without additional funding.

Paul Hardy from Derbyshire Unison said he was concerned about the likely scenario that the service would not be offered at all by the NHS in the county.

"The people of Derbyshire have not been informed about this, no-one's asked them if they want [mental health services] privatised," he said.

"The care is not as good in my opinion as the NHS...people only get a certain amount of sessions in private talking therapy."

"Too many sessions is eating into private providers' profits. Rather than clinicians being in charge, accountants are in charge of what people should be getting.

"So if someone has complex care needs I'm not sure these private providers will provide the necessary care for people."

The services are accessed by 28,000 people in Derbyshire

Sunita Thind, from Chellaston, attends group therapy sessions to help her manage two significant long-term health conditions and is also hoping to have CBT in the near future.

She said the potential for completely privatised talking therapy services was a "scary" thought.

"I think it’s a really sad thing to be losing [the NHS provision]. Unless it's offered to you, which sometimes it's not, some people just don’t know where to go," she said.

"So if they're going to be [private] they need to be signposting people. I don't understand where they expect people to go."