Nick Triggle of the BBC reports:
People who need urgent mental health care in England are receiving inadequate support, regulators say.
The Care Quality Commission reviewed the help given to people in mental health crisis, which includes people who are suicidal, having serious panic attacks or psychotic episodes.
The regulator said the system was “struggling to cope”.
The CQC outlined the legacy of Norman Lamb:
The CQC carried out its investigation following the signing of a Crisis Care Concordat between the government and the sector last year which promised round-the-clock support to those who needed it.
This includes help from dedicated mental health staff, intensive support at home or telephone advice.
But the review – based on surveys of patients, analysis of national data and inspections of services – found that 42% of patients did not get the help they needed.
We’ve been talking about the crisis in mental health care for a long time now. The CQC at least listens. NHS England and the CCGs behave as though the Francis Report was never written.
Care Minister Alistair Burt said the government was trying to tackle the problems in mental health with its new treatment targets and extra funding that were both announced before the election.
“Improving mental health care is my priority,” he added.
We’ll check that Alistair Burt does what he promises and prioritises mental health. Let’s hope we don’t simply see more of the empty promises, media opportunities and cashless concordats of Norman Lamb.
We invite the new Care Minister, Alistair Burt, to get in touch. We’d love to meet him and talk about our experiences on the front line of mental health services and at the receiving end of the NHS bureaucracy.
The Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Board can find an additional £60,000 ‘for additional workforce support for Execs (p. 53)‘ but people in crisis are repeatedly failed and, if a bed can be found after hours of delay, people in crisis are often transported to Somerset or Darlington at an average cost of £552 per night.
Click on the image below to watch the interviews and read the rest of Nick Triggle’s article on the BBC News website: