NICE guidance for GPs to regularly review self-harming patients finalised

NICE has rubber-stamped guidance on self-harm that said GPs should ‘regularly review’ patients and offer a ‘specific CBT intervention’.

The guidance is the first to be drawn up in 11 years and emphasises the importance of referring patients to specialist mental health services but stresses that, for patients who are treated in primary care, continuity is crucial.

The final guideline mirrors the draft guidance in advising that self-harming patients, when treated in primary care, must receive:

• regular follow-up appointments;
• regular reviews of self-harm behaviour;
• a regular medicines review.

GPs must also provide care for co-existing mental health issues, including referral to mental health services where appropriate, as well as information, social care, voluntary and non-NHS sector support and self-help resources, it said.

The guidance said that referring people to mental health services would ‘ensure people are in the most appropriate setting’.

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Source: Pulse, 8 September 2022