(11 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberIn response to a written question that I submitted, I was told that the Department of Health and Social Care holds no central data for diagnosis and treatment of those with eating disorders and has no idea how many mental health nurse appointments are available in GP surgeries, despite all the funding. Do Ministers agree that that is a disgrace?
NHS England holds some of that data. Central data is one of the things that we are introducing right now to improve our access to data. It makes it difficult to plan services when we do not have that dataset, but we are working to resolve that as quickly as we can.
(2 years ago)
Commons ChamberForty per cent. of GP appointments are now related to mental health. That is why James Starkie and I launched the cross-party “No Time to Wait” campaign, which had the support of the Prime Minister when he was Chancellor. We have a fully costed plan with the Royal College of Nursing to pilot such a scheme. Is the Secretary of State willing to meet James and me?
I thank my hon. Friend for his suggestion. We are committed to boosting the mental health workforce, and I am happy to meet him to discuss his suggestions.