A London-based primary care provider is to be paid up to £1m to provide confidential mental health treatment for health and social care professionals in Scotland who might be afraid to access normal support.

The Hurley Group, which runs a similar NHS practitioner health service for doctors in England, has been contracted to provide online mental health treatment for health and care professionals in Scotland.

It will be paid £1m to run the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS) for an initial ten-month period from December 2021 to September 2022, with the option of extending for up to two years.

Alongside offering a similar service in England since 2008, the Hurley group runs 20 GP practices and three urgent care centres in London. It is also founded the online consultation platform eConsult.

When the WSS was announced in February of this year, then-health secretary Jeane Freeman said it would offer “maximum confidentiality”.

She said: “We know that some health and social care professionals can find it difficult to access mental health or addictions services due to concerns about receiving a confidential service or the professional implications of seeking support.”

Consultations will take place online or by phone with clinicians based in England, according to the WSS website.

The arrangement covers the period while a Scotland version is under development.

A contract notice posted online revealed the Hurley Group was given the work because NHS National Services Scotland ‘believes there is only one provider capable of meeting its requirement’.

The contract specification included working with staff who are suffering from addiction and suicidal thoughts, or who might be reluctant to seek help due to concerns about involvement from regulators or career progression.

The service specification includes providing ‘in-patient detoxification and/or rehabilitation therapy’.

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