Psychology service at GPs

A NEW service which provides clinical and counselling psychological services within GP practices has been launched.

Eight clinical psychologists and two counselling psychologists will be employed to deliver the private service in Dublin, Cork and Portlaoise.

The primary healthcare centres involved are Churchtown Medical Centre, Ranelagh Medical Centre and the Phoenix Medical Centre on the Navan Road, all in Dublin, the Mallow Primary Health Centre in Cork and the Cedar Clinic in Portlaoise.

The service is being provided by Dr Ian Gargan, the director of Imagine Health, a private company which provides both private and public mental health services.

The service will be available at a cost of €85-€120 a session depending on the clinic. Each patient is recommended to have six sessions, a model which has been approved by the UK’s National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The Voluntary Health Insurance (VHI) will subsidise the service at €50 a session, but the other health insurers are not yet involved.

Dr Gargan said the price reflected the “very expensive” cost of hiring psychologists and delivering the service which will not be operating at a profit.

He said the psychologists were being paid the equivalent level of what they would be paid in the HSE.

Dr Gargan added that he had four meetings with former minister for state with responsibility for mental health, John Maloney, and with former minister for health Mary Harney to provide it as a public service to patients or through a voucher system operated by GPs.

“My proposal is on the desk of someone in the HSE and I’m hoping to meet the new Minister in the next few weeks. I set this up with the intention that it eventually has to be free, but at the moment we have no public support whatsoever,” he said.

Dr Gargan said the presence of such a service within GP clinics would make psychological counselling more accessible for patients and would also address the stigma of going for counselling.

He said it would also be of benefit to children as there is currently a three- year waiting list in some parts of the country for cognitive assessment.