People suffering from mental illness are increasingly struggling to access help at every level of the NHS – from record numbers facing “unacceptable” delays in referrals to patients waiting up to eight days in A&E for a hospital bed.
Figures seen by The Independent show almost four times as many people are waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments as two years ago.
In the community, more than 16,000 adults and 20,000 children who should receive NHS care are unable to access vital services each month.
Nearly 80 per cent of those eligible for counselling on the health service are left waiting more than three months for a second appointment, which is when treatment usually begins.
Health leaders say they are “deeply concerned” by the lack of resources available to handle the rise in demand – and warned that the cost of living crisis would exacerbate the issue further.
Monica Smith went to A&E at Lewisham last month after her mental health deteriorated when her medication ran out and she was unable to get more.
The 32-year-old said: “I was told, ‘We can’t find any beds – there’s no bed in the whole country or the whole region, so we’re going to have a bed on A&E and hopefully you’ll get a bed in the morning.’”
Monica started hallucinating and was given medication to calm her down, but in the morning there was still no bed. Doctors tried to send her home, she said, but crisis services assessed her three times over the following days and each time decided she was too unwell.
Instead, Monica stayed in an annex off A&E with other mental health patients. She said: “I was on this like mattress, like a mental health mattress on the floor.”
It took almost eight days for her to be moved out of A&E and onto a ward.
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, which runs mental health services in the area, said there was high demand for beds but it had increased capacity. Lewisham and Greenwhich Trust said it has no option but to keep patients in A&E while waiting for beds.
Long waits for mental health patients in crisis are echoed in emergency departments across the country. Internal NHS data shows that, at the end of last month, one in four mental health patients in A&E had to wait more than 12 hours to be seen – a far higher proportion than those waiting for emergency physical care.
The wait to actually be given a bed can be far longer; in September, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine published a briefing in which doctors reported waits of 15 and 20 days.
Shadow mental health minister Dr Rosena Allin Khan told The Independent: “No one should find themselves stuck in a mental health crisis in emergency departments because they are unable to access vital treatment. Without access to timely treatment, mental illnesses only worsen.”
Have you been affected by these issues? email rebecca.thomas@independent.co.uk
These services have the chance to make a difference before someone reaches crisis point
These 12-hour waits topped 5,000 in August – rising from less than 1,500 two years earlier, despite the overall number of emergency admissions remaining relatively stable.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, said: “Trust leaders are deeply concerned by the ongoing mismatch between capacity and demand for mental health services, which can result in a lack of treatment in the right local setting and unacceptably long waits.”
She said the impact of the cost of living crisis – increasing stress, debt and poverty – had already leading to a 72 per cent rise in demands on trusts.
The crisis is exacerbated by community services that cannot intervene before cases become so serious that emergency care is required.
96%
of mental health beds occupied in August
