This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Mental health care postcode lottery ‘is risking lives’
An expert in mental health has warned that people with mental health problems are being forced to wait 112 days for treatment through the NHS’s talking therapies programme.
Despite a supposed six-week maximum wait, care delays for those with anxiety and depression are now so long in some parts of England that they could lead to people taking their own life, says Paul Farmer, the chief executive of the mental health charity Mind and ex-chair of the government’s taskforce on mental health.
Analysis of waiting time data from the NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, undertaken by the Observer, has revealed a huge postcode lottery in the average time it took people referred by their GP both to be assessed and then to start treatment in 2018-19. A first appointment, at which patients are assessed, takes an average of just four days in some places. However, in others it takes 55 days. Likewise, the average wait between the first appointment and the second – at which treatment starts – varies between 13 and 112 days.
Only four CCGs, Wakefield, Castle Point and Rochford, Basildon and Brentwood, and South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula, are managing to provide assessments within four days. However, the same wait is 55 days in Salford, 51 days in East and North Hertfordshire and 49 days in West Cheshire. Patients in Eastern Cheshire face the longest average waits to start treatment – at 112 days.
Farmer said: “Since they were introduced 10 years ago, IAPT services have dramatically increased the numbers of people getting access to mental health support. But services are clearly struggling to cope with demand. No one should have to wait three months between their assessment and starting treatment, and how long you wait shouldn’t depend on where you live. Not getting the right support can be life-threatening.”
NHS England has hailed the success of the IAPT programme in increasing the numbers referred to it to 1.6 million in 2018-19, although only 1.1 million people started treatment and only 582,556 finished their course of treatment, usually cognitive behavioural therapy.
Latest News
16/02/2024 - 12:56
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has created a new alliance intended to clean dirty air and improve residents' health.
16/02/2024 - 10:44
Two million more GP appointments a month are being delivered for patients compared to the same month before the pandemic as part of the NHS primary care access recovery plan according to new NHS data.
15/02/2024 - 10:26
The Welsh Government has provided innovation funding of £380,000 to support two projects utilising technology in domiciliary care.
15/02/2024 - 10:13
The new Scottish health secretary has met with frontline staff at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
14/02/2024 - 10:27
The North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) has appointed three new Executive Directors to the Trust Board.
Product Features
UK Building Regulations highlight toxic gas and smoke from layers of paint built up over multiple redecorations as a major cause of permanent ill health or death in a building fire.
Their concern rose with discovery the flame retardant paints most widely used paint along escape routes have been ones which to this day counter-productively use emission of heavy toxic gas to smother flames which rapidly spread along walls if layers of paint delaminate in a fire.
Supplier Profiles
Northwich’s Victoria Infirmary (VIN) Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) has enabled more patients
Adveco, the commercial hot water specialist, announces the launch of live metering of domestic ho
Latest Features
Sarah Greenslade, public affairs and communications officer at the British Parking Association looks at some of the problems and innovations in healthcare parking
It’s easy to assume that the comms team is there to handle press enquiries and the occasional social media storm – but the reality is that strategic communications can make a measurable impact across the entire organisation, from operational to financial, when done properly
