NHS Confederation responds to the Public Accounts Committee report on mental health services

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report on mental health services, Sean Duggan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation's mental health network said:

“Leaders will welcome that the Public Accounts Committee’s report has highlighted the lack of definition for what achieving parity between mental health and physical health means in practice.

“It is also good that the report highlights that new access and waiting times services haven’t been rolled out yet. There are only a few waiting time standards in mental health, so we welcome that the inquiry reinforces the need for them and calls for NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care to set out their implementation plans.

“Mental health has historically been a low priority for the government. We have seen mental health being deprioritised when it comes to capital spending as well as the government’s flagship New Hospital Programme, which was recently extended by a further eight NHS trusts - no mental health providers were included in the extension.

“Yet demand for mental health services has remained high, with 1.2 million people currently waiting for support. Estimates also suggest that 10 million more people, including 1.5 million children and young people, need extra support with their mental health as a direct result of the pandemic. Mental health leaders and their teams are pulling out all the stops but can only do so much in what are very constrained circumstances.

“While leaders will be concerned by the figures showing that staff are leaving the mental health workforce due to relentless pressures, this will not come as a shock to them. Our members have been saying for a while now that workforce shortages are impacting on their ability to transform services and improve access. We now have the NHS workforce plan, which will help, but there are still concerns in the short term.

“The growing crisis in mental health services cannot be allowed to spiral and must not be overlooked. The government must put mental health providers at the forefront of their plans, including for recruitment, and invest in public mental health and preventative approaches, which will not only benefit patients but be the most cost-effective approach and help the wider NHS.”

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We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.