Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Mental Health Services

Tuesday 1 November 2022 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The NHS long-term plan commits to investing at least an additional 2.3 billion a year to expand and transform mental health services in England.
  • We refreshed the national autism strategy last year, backed by more than 74 million to help reduce diagnosis waiting times for ADHD and autism.
  • The Government is working on plans to address delayed discharges, which affect both mental health and acute beds, in anticipation of winter pressures.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Jones Con
NHS Mental Health
Context

The question addresses steps being taken to support individuals dealing with mental health issues.

Question

What steps he is taking to support people with mental health conditions?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

The NHS long-term plan commits to investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year by the next financial year to expand and transform mental health services in England. That will be supported by an additional 27,000 mental health professionals in the workforce to deliver that transformation.

Answered
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Q2 Andrew Jones Con
NHS Mental Health
Context

The MP met the child and adolescent mental health services team who confirmed long waiting lists for ADHD and autism diagnosis.

Question

I recently met the child and adolescent mental health services team in Harrogate, and they confirmed that there are long waiting lists for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism diagnosis. Will the Minister consider the criteria to help those who need the service most to get the support they need?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

We recognise there can be long waits for diagnosis both for ADHD and autism, and that is why we refreshed our national autism strategy last year, backed by more than £74 million to help to reduce diagnosis waiting times. NHS England is now setting out the process of how children, young people and adults might receive a diagnostic assessment much more quickly.

Answered
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Q3 Emma Hardy Lab Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
NHS Social Care
Context

The MP highlighted issues with delayed discharges affecting learning disability, secure, adult mental health, CAMHS, and community beds.

Question

In the Humber NHS trust, 42% of learning disability beds are taken by people with delayed discharge, 5.5% of secure beds have patients waiting for adult social care, as do 70% of adult mental health beds, 22% of CAMHS beds and 27% of community beds. To deal with the problem in mental health, we need to deal with the problem of lack of adult social care placements. When will the Government be able to fix that?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

The Government actually started working on the plans around delayed discharges this summer, because of course they affect mental health services. They also affect a range of acute beds. With the winter coming, we know that there will be additional pressure on those beds, and that is why we are working with local government social care services and integrated care boards which have responsibility for that in their local areas.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific timeline or fix for delayed discharges due to lack of adult social care placements

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Q4 Rosena Allin-Khan Lab Tooting
Mental Health
Context

The MP raised three recent investigations on abuse, highlighting distressing conditions and lack of engagement by the Government.

Question

In the last four weeks, there have been three investigations on abuse in in-patient mental health settings. The Government should be on top of the situation, not relying on undercover reports from Sky, The Independent, or “Panorama” that show patients languishing in seclusion, excessive use of restraints, bullying and dehumanisation, and falsification of medical records. Patients and their families rightly expect to be safe. Tory chaos has meant that the Government have not engaged with abuse allegations. For weeks there has been no functioning mental health Minister. Will the Minister conduct a rapid review of mental health services, respond to our concerns about in-patient services and apologise to patients and their families now?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

Of course we apologise for the cases that we have seen; anyone who watched some of those programmes will have seen the distressing and unacceptable care. I am the Minister with responsibility not just for mental health but for patient safety, so I will be looking at the cases in “Panorama” and other programmes, and at cases across the board, because I want to ensure that in-patient mental health services are as safe as possible.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Conducting a rapid review of mental health services specifically

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