About Practitioner Health

Practitioner Health is a free, confidential NHS primary care mental health and addiction service with expertise in treating health & care professionals.

The service can help with a range of mental health conditions and addictions in primary care settings.

Practitioner Health is a self-referral service, although in some circumstances we are able to accept referrals from other organisations. The act of self-referral is key as this acknowledges recognition of need, preparedness to trust the service and willingness to engage in treatment.

At Practitioner Health we are able to provide comprehensive assessments and treatment of a wide range of mental health and addiction issues. This may include, and depending on the individual circumstances, a referral for talking therapy, group therapy, prescription medication, inpatient rehabilitation, fit notes.

Consultation appointments and therapy sessions will take place using video technology via our booking platform. Occasionally, following assessment, a clinician may feel that a face to face appointment is required and we will liaise to ensure this can happen.

Our Mission Statement

Practitioner Health is a unique mental health treatment service tailored for the health and care workforce. We provide the expert, confidential care the workforce deserves.

What Practitioner Health Does Not Provide

It is important to say what we do not provide.

We are not a specialist mental health service, our specialism is in understanding the needs of health and care professionals. This is a subtle but important distinction. We do not limit our care to any particular mental health disorder (such as depression or addiction), nor any patient demographic.

We are not an occupational health service. We help with returning health and care professionals to work, but we do not carry out return to work assessments, or assessments which might be required to formulate reasonable adjustments.

We are not a replacement for mainstream NHS services, nor designed to offer a second opinion for mental or occupational health, nor is it a shortcut to obtaining a medico-legal opinion. Health and care professionals who are currently supported by NHS mental health services are encouraged to remain with their local team.

We play no part in managing professional standards and have no role in overseeing health and care professionals in disciplinary processes, supporting investigations into their practice or informing performance assessment processes.

We are unable to provide longer-term talking therapy. If we feel following assessment that this is what is most likely to help you then we can help guide your choices and signpost you accordingly however we are unable to provide or fund this directly.

We are not an emergency or urgent service but try to be as responsive as possible where health and care professionals are in crisis.