Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Care Quality Commission's report <i>Right here, right now</i>, what steps they are taking to ensure that local Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat plans are properly funded and implemented in all areas.

The Government’s Mandate to NHS England sets out clearly that “we expect NHS England to make rapid progress, working with CCGs and other commissioners, to help deliver on our shared goal to have crisis services that, for an individual, are at all times as accessible, responsive and high quality as other health emergency services.” The Mandate also states that the Government expects “every community to have plans to ensure no one in crisis will be turned away” based on the principles set out in the Crisis Care Concordat. The current NHS England planning guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) makes specific reference to the Concordat, as well as asking CCGs to increase their mental health spend this year.

As part of their commitment to the Concordat, we asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to undertake a review of the experiences of people receiving crisis care. The report, Right Here, Right Now: Mental health crisis care review, has been placed in the Library and is available at:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/right-here-right-now-mental-health-crisis-care-review

The report will inform future inspections as part of the CQC’s new inspection regime. As part of the review, the CQC carried out 15 local area inspections of services that respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis during winter 2014-15. The CQC has now provided feedback to those localities. This feedback and the wider report will enable local partners in these areas, as well as others across the country, to identify areas for improvement which can in turn be addressed through continuously improving Concordat action plans.

The Department, NHS England and Mind are supporting all areas to develop and improve their plans, which were in place throughout England by spring 2015, on an ongoing basis, including in light of the CQC’s review.

The Government has put mental health at the centre of its programme of health reform.

We have increased investment in mental health. Spending on mental health was estimated to increase by £302 million in 2014-15, with total mental health spending rising from £11.362 billion in 2013-14 to £11.664 billion planned in 2014-15, an increase of 0.6% in real terms. We have legislated to put mental health on a par with physical health, and close the health gap between people with mental health problems and the population as a whole.