Hi TheOriginalMe - I can relate to your post and live in the UK.

I got referred to secondary care as I was having sui thoughts and the medication that was tried by my GP just made things worse. I saw someone (not sure of their backgrgound) for an assessment.

She asked about sui thoughts and I told her (included some planning), however as I wasn't specific enough, her advice was to stop seeing my long term therapist, see an NHS counsellor instead (who may be a trainee) and stop thinking so much!!!

Gobsmacked is not the word - so yes it seems as if in the UK, unless you are literally on the edge, significantly psychotic requiring sectioning, or you have short term psychological health problems and can slot into one of the 6 session CBT programmes (may be working with a graduate mental heath worker and not a UKCP / BACP therapist or counsellor), then you aren't important enough.

I guess maybe because the risk to society isn't high enough and you can't then become a political statistic in terms of successful short term treatment.

I agree that the GP hands are tied, but maybe they need to shout louder.

Sorry for the rant - I think the sooner the UK goes fully private, then more people will have equal access to health services - the NHS used to be an excellent service (I used to work in it), but now it is about tick boxes and statistics not about individual patient care.