Extended 30-minute mental health consultations in a deprived urban Irish general practice allowed GPs to encounter a wide range of mental health concerns across all ages and manage a substantial proportion entirely within the community, highlighting the potential for delivering mental health care in general practice when time and resources are sufficient.
Anxiety and low mood were the most common presenting complaints in extended mental health consultations.
The patient population was predominantly young, female, and socially deprived.
Psychotropic medications were initiated or modified for more than one-third of patients seen in extended consultations.
A notable proportion of patients were referred to psychiatric services, while the majority were signposted to community mental health supports.
GPs in the deprived urban practice managed a substantial proportion of mental health presentations entirely within the community.
Standard general practice consultation times limit GPs' ability to comprehensively assess and manage diverse emotional concerns, particularly in socially deprived areas.
This research suggests that when GPs in a socially deprived urban area in Ireland were given 30-minute extended appointment slots for mental health concerns, they were able to see patients with a wide variety of emotional and psychological difficulties and manage most of them without referring to specialist psychiatric services. The study looked back at records from 195 patients seen over two years. Most patients were young (median age 29), the majority were women, and nearly 70% lived in areas with above-average social deprivation. Anxiety and low mood were the most common reasons for attending these longer appointments. The findings show that GPs prescribed or adjusted psychiatric medications for about 38% of patients, mainly antidepressants (SSRIs). Around one in four patients were referred to psychiatric specialist services, while more than half were directed toward community mental health supports such as counseling or local services. This suggests that extended appointment times may allow primary care doctors to handle a large proportion of mental health needs without escalating to specialist care. This research matters because it highlights a gap between what general practice could offer for mental health and what is currently possible under typical short appointment times. The authors suggest that if GPs are given adequate time and resources, they can provide meaningful mental health care, especially in deprived communities where mental health needs are high but access to specialist services may be limited. The study also points out that standard research methods, like looking at diagnoses or prescriptions alone, may underestimate the true scope and complexity of mental health work happening in general practice.
Hinchy S, Pilkington E, Tobin H, Ravichandran N, Cullen W, O'Donoghue B, et al.. (2026). 'Taking Time' - Extended mental health consultations in a deprived urban general practice: A retrospective descriptive study.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0349885