Part Two
BBC Radio London interviewed Smart TMS CEO Gerard Barnes.
After discussion of the treatment and how one patient, in particular, had seen results – see BBC Radio London: TMS Treatment for Depression – Jason Rosam asked about the company’s expansion of its UK Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation services.
Jason Rosam said:
“So you’ve got 3 clinics now – one here in London, in Birmingham and in Dublin as well. That was obviously a different approach, how long has it been there?”
Gerard responded:
“Well we were the first people to do it in Ireland, and we’re just opening in Manchester later on this month.”
Jason Rosam asked whether, and how patients had taken to the treatment concept.
Barnes explained:
“We are trying to tell people about something they’ve never heard of – and it sounds too good to be true.
“My partner, my medical director in the business – he’s a longstanding psychiatrist – will say this is potentially completely transformational to psychiatry; because we can make people not just better, but we will make them well and we can do that for depression, but there are also some really interesting research going on into other conditions like OCD, depersonalisation, borderline personality… so the applications for this, as the research comes online, are enormous.”
Jason Rosam asked whether other countries were more advanced in their understanding and use of rTMS therapy.
Gerard Barnes responded:
“…The Americans the focus is primarily on depression, but the leading researchers in this field are in America and Canada – and they are pushing the boundaries to try and get this to work as well as it possibly can.”
He went on to explain who treatment works for:
“…to be transparent, the one downside about this treatment is it doesn’t work for everybody…. it’s about 60-70% – which is an awful lot higher than antidepressants.
“…you have to have a go first and you have to have more than one go – you need 10-15 sessions.”
Cost of TMS Therapy
Gerard Barnes explained:
“The full course of treatment, 30 sessions, is about £6,000. It’s a private treatment, only very limited availability at the moment. I hope as other people enter the market, the price of the machines comes down and so the treatment itself will become much more affordable.
Jason Rosam asked if it would ever be available on the NHS. Barnes replied:
“Yes, I think it will be.
“The NHS has such buying power that they will get there but my expectation is it’s 3, 4, 5 years out.
“There are signs, little tiny green shoots, in various select parts of the NHS where they are starting to look at it.”
Gerard Barnes
Gerard Barnes is CEO of Smart TMS, a company offering Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation – a non-medication-based mental health treatment.
Smart TMS is a specialist provider of TMS treatment. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy (rTMS) is a technological breakthrough in the treatment of depression with a variety of further potential treatment applications.
SMART TMS CLINICS
Smart TMS was established in 2015, providing TMS treatment at their original South Kensington/Brompton Cross centre in London. The company opened a second clinic in Birmingham in September 2017 and also has an established base in Northampton. The first Irish clinic was opened in Dublin in October 2017. The Manchester clinic is set to open end May 2018 with a clinic in Bristol following later in summer 2018.
CONTACT US
For any other queries or for patients wishing to book an appointment at one of our UK clinics, please contact us:
- Tel: 0345 222 5678
- Email: info@smarttms.co.uk
Irish patients may contact Our Dublin Clinic direct on:
- Email: info@smarttms.ie
- Tel: 353 (01) 254 2514
- Website: www.smarttms.ie