Mental health care being rationed over failure to cut waiting list, top doctor warns
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Mental health care ‘being rationed’ over failure to cut spiralling waiting list, top doctor warns
Nearly 1.7 million people were waiting for community care, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist appointment, at the end of December 2024. That is up from 1.3 million in March 2024 and is in addition to the 7.4 million people on the national NHS waiting list, which only counts patients with physical health problems. Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the figures proved mental health care was being downgraded in favour of other services. She said: “It’s very clear that there has been a prioritisation of services; mental healthcare is not one of those services. As far as I’m concerned, it’s been rationed for years. It’s not been prioritised, full stop. I say that because you know, we’ve got we have 1.5 million people who are waiting for mental health services.” The NHS’S director for mental. health said the lack of sufficient care in the community was driving more people to A&E. by which time, patients have often been in crisis for weeks or months without help.
Mental health care is being rationed because the government is failing to tackle the spiralling waiting list, the UK’s top psychiatrist has warned, with 48,000 people waiting more than two years for treatment to start.
Nearly 1.7 million people were waiting for community care, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist appointment, for treatments including everything from severe depression to serious personality disorders at the end of December 2024.
That is up from 1.3 million in March 2024 and is in addition to the 7.4 million people on the national NHS waiting list, which only counts patients with physical health problems.
Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the figures proved mental health care was being downgraded in favour of other services.
She said: “It’s very clear that there has been a prioritisation of services; mental healthcare is not one of those services. As far as I’m concerned, it’s been rationed for years. It’s not been prioritised, full stop. I say that because you know, we’ve got we have 1.7 million people who were waiting for mental health services.
“They are not being prioritised and so there is rationing of mental healthcare, full stop.”
Last week, the government launched its 10-year plan for the future of the NHS, which recommits to previous promises to expand mental health teams in schools and create specialist mental health A&Es across the country. However, it does not make commitments to reduce the number of people already waiting to be seen.
It comes as the latest figures reveal:
As of April, 10,198 adults were waiting more than two years for treatment to start with community mental health teams
Some 35,735 children and young people were waiting more than two years for a second contact
Delayed discharges from hospital units hit a post-Covid record of 53,000, up from 27,000 in March 2020
In October, a record 2.9 million people were in contact with mental health services
A post-pandemic record of 7.8 million antidepressant NHS prescriptions were issued in December 2024
Fewer than 5 per cent of people who need NHS counselling have been able to access it this year
The Labour government was recently criticised for dropping the previous Tory government’s commitment to grow mental health funding at the same rate or more than the overall NHS budget to tackle the inequality in investment.
Dr Smith said it was “simply illogical” not to invest in good mental healthcare, as it drives productivity and economic growth.
Meanwhile, the NHS’s director for mental health, Claire Murdoch, said the lack of sufficient care in the community was driving more people to A&E, by which time, patients have often been in crisis for weeks or months without help.
She added: “[That] I think is a bigger scandal than a slightly long A&E wait – if people are losing weeks or months of their lives because we don’t have housing or community packages.”
Addressing the lack of equality in mental health waiting lists compared to physical health, Ms Murdoch said: “Our waiting lists are as important as any waiting list…When waiting lists are at the same level as any other parity will have been achieved.”
Sarah, 52, London, warns mental health services for her daughter were ‘fragmented and inadequate’ ( Family handout )
Sarah, 52, a single mother of three, told The Independent of the “horrific” experience of seeing her autistic teenage daughter, Bay, who was forced to live on a mental health ward for almost two months because there was no community care for her. WHEN
Bay, who has autism, was first admitted to a children’s mental health unit in London when she was 16 years old. Her mental health declined, and her behaviour became “increasingly unpredictable” during the pandemic after the family moved to London from South Africa, Sarah said.
Despite numerous appointments with child and adolescent mental health services in the community, Bay’s care was “fragmented and inadequate”, her mother said.
In 2023, as her mental health began to seriously deteriorate, Bay was taken to A&E after she threatened to harm herself. She spent 24 hours there before being admitted to an inpatient unit where she remained for 46 days.
Her mother said she was held in the hospital as they could not find an appropriate residential placement for her, and it was not safe for her to return home. Two months later, a place was eventually found for her in supported accommodation.
She said, “It was horrific. I felt helpless. I’m not a psychiatrist or therapist, and autistic children with mental health issues are often just contained, not supported, and this needs to change.”
“Autistic children are special. We need a different approach — using creativity, understanding sensory needs, offering proper support, not just containment. One positive was that when Bay was in the hospital, it was the first time in a long, long time that I felt that she was safe and that I could breathe. Before that, I had needed to watch her and keep us safe 24 hours a day.”
Sarah Wakeling, CEO at Positive Support Group, which supported Bay at home, said: “Our new analysis underlines the growing pressure on NHS mental health services and the urgent need to rethink how we provide support for these people. The NHS has recently committed to opening new mental health A&Es. But just as important is addressing gaps in early intervention, specialist education, and community-based mental health care – so that we can help people before they need urgent care.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our commitment to improving this through our Plan for Change is clear. We have announced £26 million to open new mental health crisis centres, are recruiting an extra 8,500 mental health staff, and expanding mental health support teams in schools across England to cover all pupils by 2029-30.“
“We are also funding the expansion of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, and modernising the Mental Health Act to ensure people with the most severe conditions receive better, more personalised treatment.”