A psychologist without a referral? Changes in the pilot of mental health centers

The preparation of the draft amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Health of April 27, 2018 on the pilot program in mental health centers (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2086, as amended), hereafter referred to as the "Regulation", has been made on the basis of past experience with the implementation of health services within the framework of the notification and coordination points operating in mental health centers. As part of the testing of new solutions, it is crucial to test adequate access to psychological services provided within the framework of the enrollment-coordination point.

Under current regulations, the use of health services provided by a psychologist is possible upon presentation of a referral. Bearing in mind the need to provide rapid support to patients presenting themselves at the notification and coordination point (in urgent cases up to 72 hours), testing the possibility of using psychological services without a referral is important in the context of preparing system changes after the pilot program ends.

The second major component of the change is the expansion of the pilot program to increase the areas covered by the mental health centers already in operation.

The draft regulation amends Section 12 of the regulation regarding the possibility of obtaining psychological services at enrollment and coordination points without the need for a referral. The purpose of excluding the need for a referral within the scope of the pilot program is to test the impact of this fact on changing the availability of psychological services. In addition, an appendix has been updated to expand the areas covered in the mental health centers already in operation. This will increase the number of people covered by the pilot program.

Source: RCL