Beating the Blues®
How do I get Beating the Blues®
- It is your right to be able to get access to Beating the Blues® free of charge through the NHS.
- You should go to your GP and ask for it.
- In the unlikely event that your GP is unable to prescribe it then they should seek help from the Primary Care Trust (PCT) to make it available.
- If you are unable to get access to Beating the Blues® free of charge and are unhappy about this, you may wish to complain by following the NHS Complaints link. You may also want to write to your MP.
- If you are unable to get access to Beating the Blues® though the NHS and wish to buy a supported version online, please go to Beating the Blues Connect to find out more.
A more detailed explanation of why it should be available and what you can do if it is not is outlined below:
When the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended Beating the Blues® it is binding on the NHS to provide it to patients. You should have been able to get this treatment free of charge from April 2007.
In fact in March 2007 the Secretary of State for Health announced that PCTs should make Beating the Blues® available to any patient that needs it and that they could go and get it from their GP.
GPs have also been informed by the Department of Health of the requirement to provide you with access to the program so they should be your first point of contact. You may wish to print off some of the information on this site to ensure they know what it is you are talking about.
Most GPs rely on their PCT to arrange services like Beating the Blues® for them and you may find that the PCT have not yet bought it for them to prescribe. This should not stop you being able to get Beating the Blues® but may mean you and your GP need to find out why it is not available.
If you and your GP believe that Beating the Blues® would be of benefit then it is your right to have access to the program and you’ll need to contact the PCT and ask why it is not yet available despite assurances from the Secretary of State for Health that it would be. This is usually done through the NHS Complaints process.
Your GP can also make contact directly with the person who has responsibility for commissioning services for the PCT, they should know who this is.
You can also write to your MP and ask them to contact the PCT and ask why Beating the Blues® is not available.
Do not worry about doing this, Alan Johnson, the current Secretary of State for Health has said that this is what you need to do if you are unhappy about the program not being available to you.
Thank you for taking the time to find out more about Beating the Blues® and we hope that you find the information useful.
