MENTAL health therapy waiting time delays could be tackled with help from a Swindon GP’s app.

Dr Julian Nesbitt, a GP trainee at the North Swindon Practice, says doctors are being forced to give their patients unnecessary drugs as they wait up to six months for an appointment with a therapy specialist.

The 29-year-old claims his app, called Dr Julian, is already helping patients get seen quicker. Launched last year, the app pairs patients with therapists. Dr Nesbitt developed the app while he was working at the Great Western Hospital as an A&E doctor, with the idea for Dr Julian stemming from the number of emergency patients he felt weren’t getting the rapid support they needed.

Dr Nesbitt said: “The same is true when I’m speaking to patients in the GP surgery. I know from my colleagues we’re forced in a way into giving anti-depressant prescriptions.

“We get 10 minutes in a consultation and we’re forced into writing prescriptions, but what would really help these patients is fast access to the high-quality mental health therapies they need.

"Sometimes we end up having to give the patients something, because they’re on a massive waiting list. But that’s not always the best thing.

“What we need to be doing is providing them with fast access to support.”

Dr Nesbitt said his app could offer that quick support. In the past year, 700 people from all over the world have signed up to the service.

The young entrepreneur is now starting trials with NHS trusts, including Thurrock, to develop versions of the Dr Julian app specifically for the health service. Funded by NHS bosses, it would mean the video consultations with specialist therapists could be offered free to mental health patients.

“We can work with the trusts to do the mental health assessment,” Dr Nesbitt said. “They can upload these patients, who can then log on and select the correct therapist for them.” Therapists signed up to the app include specialists in everything from talking therapies to children’s mental health.

“It means they can find the therapist who can speak their language.”

Dr Nesbitt hoped the app could be offered free in other areas, including Swindon. He is part of Digital Health London’s accelerator programme, which aims to speed up the adoption of technology in London’s NHS.

He is also developing versions of the app for businesses, allowing them to offer members of staff counselling or other support.

For more, visit: www.dr-julian.com.