Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled, Right treatment right time, published by Rethink Mental Illness, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the conclusion that the average waiting time of assessment by patients with severe mental illness is 14 weeks.

Information on the average waiting time of assessment for patients with severe mental illness is not collected.

The waiting time standard for people with first episode psychosis is for 60% to start treatment in an Early Intervention in Psychosis service within two weeks of referral. In 2017/18 this standard was exceeded, with 76.2% of people accessing services within two weeks in November 2018.