The role of mental health education in a primary care setting

Mental health services have undergone unprecedented changes in the past decade with frequent exhortations in government documents for all agencies to work together to provide care for people with mental health problems (Department of Health, 2001a; 1999). By 2004 all primary care groups will have become primary care trusts, and it is expected that the number of GPs currently providing personal medical services as opposed to general medical services, will also have increased, with more emphasis being placed on an interagency approach to care. In the field of mental health this approach is also being recommended by the Implementation Guide to the National Service Framework, which calls for cooperative planning and provision of services to take place among agencies, including primary care (DoH, 2001b).