An idea whose time has come

We started thinking about the idea of psychiatrists working online using video technology as far back as 2009 and we’ve now developed a complete model for providing our specialist medical consultations and ongoing psychological support using secure video links.

The model for Psychiatry-UK is a chamber – like a chamber of lawyers or accountants. It allows qualified psychiatrists who work to our standards and on our system to build their own online practices. The chamber is owned and run by the members as a GMC-designated medical body. Our primary business is the provision of online medical treatment and risk management services with named doctors taking responsibility for all patients on our system, including those receiving treatment from multidisciplinary services working under our supervision.

Our doctors can live anywhere in the world, and we are able to assess and diagnose patients who are based anywhere in the world (although we don’t have the jurisdiction to provide medical treatment to patients in other countries). We run a secure medical record system on a UK-based server, using a secure VC system which is compliant with all medical security compliance legislation.

We have an adaptable front-facing referral route, allowing adaptation to multiple settings; anything from our direct to public self-referral service to our NHS primary care service and including corporate, educational, and third sector models.

We are excited about the future of telepsychiatry as we believe that psychiatry is uniquely suited to online provision as the discretion and convenience is so appreciated by our patients.

Our Standards

As you can see from their profiles, the psychiatrists at Psychiatry-UK are all highly qualified doctors. To join us a psychiatrist not only has to have held a substantive NHS consultant post, be on the specialist register at the GMC, and be in good standing with the Royal College of Psychiatrists; they also have to be approved by all of the other members of the practice to work in our chamber and to our standards.

We have top specialists who cover the full range of mental disorders, from postnatal depression to dementia.

As doctors, our members all take their responsibilities with regard to confidentiality particularly seriously. You can talk to our doctors about anything and remain absolutely secure in the knowledge that, as long as you’re not intending to do something serious like harm yourself or others, so your life or someone else is in danger, what you say will remain confidential.

Do you know someone who is suffering unnecessarily?

With psychiatric issues, it is all too common for the person who has the problem to be in denial. Although a quarter of us suffer from recognisable and diagnosable mental disorders in our lifetime, two thirds then do nothing about it – either from fear of the stigma of mental illness or from a refusal to recognise or acknowledge the problem. They suffer in silence – and those who love them often suffer with them.

Perhaps you have someone close to you, a friend or family member, who you feel falls into this category; so perhaps you should have a short meeting with a psychiatrist yourself for advice on how best to deal with the situation. We may be able to give you pointers on how to persuade the person for whom you are concerned to start facing the issues.

If this is the case please fill in our initial enquiry form so someone can give you a call to talk it through further.