Northern Gambling Service

Referrals and contacting the service

The NHS Northern Gambling Service works closely with a range of people and organisations including GPs, local councils, NHS trusts, national and local charities, Citizens’ Advice, the criminal justice system, debt agencies, substance misuse services and homeless agencies.

One of our core values is that “any door is the right door” which means people can be referred in via a number of routes no matter where they are or who they are receiving help from. People can also self-refer.

For members of the public, carers and family members

You can get in touch with us directly to enquire about accessing our services.

• Email us at referral.ngs@nhs.net providing a contact number
• Call us on 0300 3001490 giving a contact number if leaving a message.
• Complete our short contact form.

We aim to contact you within one to three days.

If you meet the criteria for our service (outlined below) we will provide you with a more detailed  referral form to enable you to access the service. Once you complete and return this to us, we will contact you to book you in for an assessment at the most convenient base.

You can also find us on Twitter @NHS_NGS where we share our latest news.

Referrals from health and care professionals (such as GPs)

If you are a health and care professional, such as a GP, you can make a direct referral by completing our Professional Referral form.

Once we receive a completed referral form, we will make contact with the individual and send you details of the outcome in due course.

Completed forms should be sent from a secure email address. Any information sent via email that isn’t from a secure email address such as nhs.net should be encrypted. You can find out more about document encryption in our Safe Haven Guidance (page 15 onwards).

Access criteria

We are a specialist NHS service and as such we have a set of referral criteria. We have been commissioned to provide support for people with:

• Gambling Addiction (less severe problems are usually referred to GamCare)
• Long term gambling problems with little or no abstinence
• Mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, trauma and suicidal feelings
• Alcohol/drug misuse or other compulsive behaviours
• Concerns about risk of harm to self or others
• Homelessness or unstable housing or chronic social isolation
• Frequent involvement with criminal justice system or history of serious offending
• Developmental problems, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or difficulties with cognitive or intellectual functioning
• Adverse experiences in childhood that may underlie the gambling problem
• Serious physical health difficulties

You may also choose to use the Northern Gambling Service if you have a specific preference for it.