NHS Wiltshire is considering retendering the mental health services in the county because of concerns about the existing provider, Avon and Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP).

It has emerged that in February GPs were so concerned that they requested a performance notice be issued to AWP.

The information, contained in minutes of meetings by the county’s Clinical Commissioning Committees, was presented to a board meeting of NHS Wiltshire and NHS Bath and North East Somerset last week.

The board was told that since February the concerns had been taken onboard by the management of AWP and changes have been made to bring about improvements in services.

But NHS South Gloucestershire, which commissions mental health services on behalf of others in the region, is drawing up a remedial action plan for improvements at AWP.

And NHS Wiltshire is drawing up plans to retender the service while NHS Bristol is to start consulting on plans to tender for a city wide mental health service.

Jennifer Howells, director of finance at NHS Wiltshire and NHS Bath and North East Somerset, told the board meeting which met in Devizes on May 23: "The PCT, as a cluster, has been considering commissioning of mental health services and in particular concerns about the delivery of the existing mental health provider. We are working through specifications of mental health provision across the cluster and starting to engage with stakeholders.

"There have been recent changes in leadership at the mental health trust and we are engaging directly with them to see what improvements can be made in terms of delivery of mental health services in the near time while we continue specification and movement to a procurement process."

Dr Steve Rowlands, medical director at NHS Wiltshire and chairman of the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said improvement in mental health services had taken place recently.

After the meeting Dr Rowlands, a GP in Trowbridge, said the concerns raised by GPs were about accessing community mental health services for patients, particularly out of office hours and in times of crisis.

He said: "The reaction wasn’t always what the GPs expected. AWP has addressed that and have put named individuals in place for GPs to contact."

A statement from AWP said: "AWP remains totally committed to meeting the needs of our communities in Wiltshire and we are working collectively with all our commissioners to strengthen the responsiveness and effectiveness of our services.

"Our staff deliver some outstanding care and support to those who need our help. Service users and carers can be confident that consistently meeting their needs remains our top priority."

The statement added that a new liaision service had been established with GPs to make it easier for them to get specialist support and to refer patients to AWP.