Last week, Primary Care Trusts were deprived of their authoritarian hold to provide mental health services to the people of the region by the National Health Service. The respective task of PCTs, now have been transferred to the GPs. The responsibility of making budgets for health services has also been handed over to the GPs.

Polls were conducted and it was found that family doctors don’t feel prepared to render their servicer for treating mental health problems. It has scared the mental health campaigners, as they believe such a step of "postcode lottery writ large" will leave many patients untreated. On the other hand, two polls expressed that family doctors don’t feel themselves apt to provide mental health services. Thus, the problem is grave for GPs and for patients, as well.

According to charity organization Rethink, there are around 1.5 million people with serious mental illness and thus, there is a need to get the GPs trained. Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of Rethink stated that earlier people had no faith in the mental health services of GPs and now they themselves are stepping back.

As expressed by Professor Steve Field of the Royal College of General Practitioners, GPs would not discharge mental health services without the aid of some experts and he showed his positivity towards the efforts of GPs.

Another bad news for mental health patients is that there is an expected cut of 12% in the mental health budget by Mental Health NHS Foundation in the coming four years.