ABSTRACT
In December 2015, Healthwatch England reported that ‘the quality of mental health services has been raised as a priority by more than half of local Healthwatch, making it the number-one issue for 2016’ and observed, ‘Yet still too often we hear from those accessing mental health support and their families that they feel the clock is ticking, and that if they are not “better” by the end of their course of counselling they will be left to cope on their own’. A GP can of course re-refer an unsuccessfully counselled patient but in so doing can be censured for clogging up the system.
