Mental Health Services: Hospital Wards
(asked on 17th July 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate has he made of the average length of stay in mental health inpatient units; and how this compares with the average length of stay for physical health inpatient admissions.
The following table shows the median average length of stay for adults and children who were discharged from mental health inpatient units in England between 1 March and 31 May 2025:
| People aged 0 to 17 years old | People aged 18 to 64 years old | People aged 65 years old and over |
Number of people discharged | 731 | 13,681 | 2,737 |
Median average length of stay of people discharged | 5 days | 27 days | 73 days |
Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England.
No comparison can be made with the average length of stay for physical health inpatient admissions. NHS England has advised that data is not collected under the description of ‘physical health’ as the term is too broad.