‘NHS mental health teams need to specifically support students’

As a society, we are becoming more aware of the mental health needs of our families and friends, and of the population in general. There has been an increased public and media demand for better funding of mental health services, and ‘parity of esteem’ as a principle, meaning that mental health should be considered as important as physical health, with regards to policy, service provision and public awareness.

So, as we become more familiar with mental health in general, we can start to think about specific sub-specialties, and recognise them as vital to ensuring good outcomes for our population. For example, if we have specialist perinatal mental health teams, caring for new mums with depression or psychosis, we hope that we will reduce tragic events such as maternal suicide, and our society will benefit as a whole. The same could be said for our specialist child and adolescent mental health teams, caring for the next generation, ensuring that they thrive despite their mental difficulties.

As a Bristol GP with 17 years of specialising in student health, and mental health in particular, I would like to propose that NHS mental health teams become organised specifically to support students as a demographic group, alongside new mothers, and children.

Bristol had, at the last official count, over 35,000 students living here, although the real number is likely to be much higher, as many will have been counted at home, or been overseas. The University of Bristol is one of only two universities in the UK to have an in-house GP practice, caring solely for its students and their dependants. But it is not enough for primary care services to be ‘student focused’.

According to the latest research, students have poorer wellbeing and happiness scores nationally than their non-student peers, and the suicide rates in UK students have been steadily rising for a few years.

We need to start providing ‘student focused’ specialist mental health services, run by healthcare professionals and managers with a specific interest and skills in the field of young adult mental health, who can plan services and therapy that take into account the particular challenges of being a student.

This ‘student focused’ team would ensure safer transition to adult services, from Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS), and potentially for transition to mental health services in other parts of the country (or even the world), as young people have a tendency to move around. Teams would also receive referrals from anywhere, as students arrived in Bristol on the next step of their academic journey.

Such a specialist team would be aware of term dates and deadlines, exam seasons (when research now suggests that student suicides peak), and plan services, for example, to provide groups that run to fit the term-time calendar.

Student-focused teams could liaise with other services such as A&E to co-ordinate care of students who attend frequently, or to review the experience of students who have harmed themselves or present with suicidal thoughts and behaviours. They could also liaise with other NHS services such as psychology or eating disorder services to ensure joined up care and co-ordination for students who are unfamiliar with the local health environment, and are prone to getting lost in the system.

Perhaps most importantly, the NHS ‘student focused mental health team’ would liaise with local universities and Further Education (FE) colleges, to ensure a genuinely coordinated and relevant approach to mental health care provision in Bristol. Close working relationships with the university and Further Education wellbeing and GP services, regular round table meetings, and frequent updates would radically and strategically improve the experience of students requiring mental health care in Bristol.

Such a reorganisation within our mental health trust would not come at significant cost, as although it would require clinicians and managers to realign themselves into a new team, it would potentially employ the same people, just under a different banner, with a declared interest in students and their wellbeing.

I’m unaware of any other area in the UK having a student focused specialist mental health team, so potentially Bristol’s would be a first and could lead the way, marching towards better outcomes, and better experiences of care, for a future generation of leaders and professionals, whilst society benefit as a whole.

Dr Dominique Thompson is a former GP at the University of Bristol with 17 years of experience, and is now director of Buzz Consulting.