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Mental health care is rationed Because the government fails to tackle the waiting list in a spiral, The best psychiatrist in the United Kingdom has warned, 48,000 people waiting for more than two years for treatment to start.
Nearly 1.7 million people awaited community care, such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist meeting, treatments Including everything, from serious depression to serious personality disorders at the end of December 2024.
It became 1.3 million in March 2024 and is added to the 7.4 million people on the NHS national waiting list, who only counts patients with physical health problems.
Dr. Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said that the proven figures for mental health care were demoted in favor of other services.
She said: “It is very clear that there has been a hierarchy of services; Mental health care is not one of these services. As far as I’m concerned, it has been rationed for years. It was not prioritized, complete stop. I say that because you know, we have 1.7 million people waiting for mental health services.
“They are not a priority and there is therefore a rationing of mental health care, a complete stop.”
Last week, the government launched its plan at 10 years for the future of the NHS, which recommends that previous promises to expand mental health teams in schools and create specialized mental health across the country. However, he does not undertake to reduce the number of people who are already waiting to be seen.
This occurs as the latest figures reveal:
- In April, 10,19 of adults were waiting for more than two years for treatment to start with community mental health teams
- Some 35,735 children and young people were waiting for more than two years for a second contact
- Delayed landfills of hospital units reached a post-cour record of 53,000, against 27,000 in March 2020
- In October, a record of 2.9 million people was in contact with mental health services
- A post-pandemic file of 7.8 million NHS antidepressant orders was published in December 2024
- Less than 5% of people who need NHS advice have been able to access it this year
The Labor Government has recently been criticized for abandoning the commitment of the previous conservative government to increase mental health funding at the same rate or more than the overall NHS budget to combat the inequality of investment.
Dr. Smith said it was “simply illogical” not to invest in good mental health care because it stimulates productivity and economic growth.
Meanwhile, the director of mental health of the NHS, Claire Murdoch, said that the lack of sufficient care in the community has led more people to A&C, the date on which patients have often been in crisis for weeks or months without help.
She added: “[That] I think it is a more important scandal than a slightly long expectation – if people lose weeks or months of their lives because we do not have housing or community packages. »»
Addressing the lack of equality in the waiting lists of mental health compared to physical health, Ms. Murdoch said: “Our waiting lists are as important as any waiting list … When the waiting lists are at the same level as any other parity has been carried out.”
Sarah, 52, a single mother of three children, said The independent From the “horrible” experience to see her autistic teenage daughter, Bay, who was forced to live in a mental health room for almost two months because there was no community care for her. WHEN
Bay, who is autistic, was first admitted in a children’s mental health unit in London at the age of 16. His mental health has decreased and his behavior became “increasingly unpredictable” during the pandemic after the family moved to London from South Africa, said Sarah.
Despite numerous appointments with mental health services for children and adolescents in the community, the Bay guard was “fragmented and inadequate,” said his mother.
In 2023, when his mental health began to deteriorate seriously, Bay was taken to A & e after threatening to injure himself. She spent 24 hours there before being admitted in a hospital unit where she stayed for 46 days.
Her mother said that she was detained in the hospital because they could not find an appropriate residential investment for her, and he was not sure for her to go home. Two months later, a place was finally found for her in sustained accommodation.
She said, “It was horrible. I felt helpless.
“Autistic children are special. We need a different approach – using creativity, including sensory needs, by providing appropriate support, not just confinement. A positive was that when Bay was in the hospital, it was the first time in a time, very long since I felt that she was safe and that I could breathe. Before that, I needed to look at it and keep us safe 24 hours a day. ”
Sarah Wakeling, CEO of the positive support Group, who supported Bay At Home, said: “Our new analysis highlights the growing pressure on NHS mental health services and the urgent need to rethink the way we provide support for these people. The NHS recently committed to opening a new mental health. But just as important is to tackle lakes in a special education, to community -based mental care.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Care said: “Our commitment to improve this thanks to our change plan is clear. We have announced 26 million pounds sterling to open new mental health crisis centers, recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff members and expand mental health support teams in England schools to cover all students by 2029-30.
“We also finance the expansion of the speaking therapies of the NHS and the dishes and the individual support regimes, and modernize the Mental Health Act to ensure that people with the most serious conditions receive better more personalized treatment.”
