06.11.19
NHS Providers: Mental health services need action to reduce pressures
Following an independent report commissioned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, calling for improvements to reduce the number of people receiving care far from their homes and relieving significant pressures on mental health.
In response to the report, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: “We welcome today’s report commissioned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which calls for action to reduce the number of people receiving care far from home and relieve the significant pressures mental health trusts are increasingly facing year round.
“In our report, Mental health services: addressing the care deficit, we stressed the need for mental health trusts and the national bodies to continue to focus on reducing the number of people being placed far from home and addressing inpatient capacity problems, whilst recognising the sustained demand on services.
“The report rightly highlights that there are a complex range of factors behind people being placed in services far from home and these placements are often a symptom of pressures on the wider system more broadly.
“We need to see the right investment in community services, housing, social care and workforce, as well as broader approaches to reducing demand to be in place and working. It is also important that the right types of services are commissioned and trusts have the flexibility and right level of capacity and resource to deliver these.
“Additionally mental health trusts must no longer be neglected in the NHS capital investment programme. Trusts must be armed with the right capital budget to build and ensure environments for service users are appropriate and deliver the best possible care as close to home as possible.”