Barnet, Enfield and Hillingdon refer less than 4% of depressed patients

Enfield, Barnet and Hillingdon PCT’s are the least likely primary care trusts to refer patients diagnosed with depression for therapy, a study has found.

The findings comes in a report published by the London Civic Forum who compared how many patients with depression were referred to psychological therapy in 2011-12 in London. It was based on data found on Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Website.

Enfield PCT referred just 2% of depressed patients while Barnet and Hillingdon PCT’s referred a little over 3% each.

This contrasts substantially with other PCT’s in the capital. For example, Islington PCT referred almost a quarter of patients with depression for therapy.

The findings will come as a concern to the Clinical Commissioning Groups who will be taking over from Enfield, Barnet and Hillingdon PCT’s in less than a month.

Both Ealing and Barnet PCT have around 40,000 patients each with depression – two of the highest in London.

The study also found a correlation between PCT’s that prescribed more anti-depressant drugs and referred fewer patients to therapy.

The only two PCT’s who bucked the trend were Havering and Kingston PCT’s who prescribed a high number of anti-depressant drugs and referred a relatively high number of patients for therapy.

But the study also pointed out that there was “huge variation” in the amount of anti-depressant drugs prescribed.

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