Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for neurodevelopmental services.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is currently considering the next steps to improve diagnostic assessments and support for autistic people and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and ADHD services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

In respect of ADHD, we are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has launched into challenges in ADHD service provision, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on (a) implementing and (b) training additional mental health staff to help relieve waiting lists.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We know that the National Health Service has been facing chronic workforce shortages for a number of years and, while there has been growth in the mental health workforce over recent years, more is needed.

That is why, as part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment. We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. We are working to develop a plan to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce, including where they should be deployed to achieve maximum effect.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services waiting lists.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

We are committed to expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health care through the NHS Long Term Plan so more people, including children and young people, can be supported more quickly. The NHS forecasts that, between 2018/19 and 2023/24, spending on mental health services has increased by £4.7 billion in cash terms, compared to the target of £3.4 billion set out at the time of the NHS Long Term Plan. Nationally, overall spend on children and young people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 billion in 2022/23. In the year to December 2023, over 750,000 children and young people aged under 18 years old were supported through NHS funded mental health services, a 31% increase since March 2021.

We are rolling out Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges in England, and as of May 2023, these teams cover 3.4 million pupils in England, or the equivalent to 35% of pupils. We expect this to increase to 44% by spring 2024, and we are extending coverage to 50% of pupils by the end of March 2025. We are also providing £8 million to fund 24 early support hubs across the country. This will improve access for children and young people to vital mental health support in the community, offering early interventions to improve wellbeing before their condition escalates further.

In addition, the NHS is working towards implementing five new waiting time standards for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, to ensure timely access to the most appropriate, high-quality support. Four of these include children and young people.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to bring waiting times for mental health patients in-line with waiting times for physical health patients.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

We remain committed to achieving parity between mental and physical health services, as outlined in the parity of esteem definition set out in a letter to the Public Accounts Committee in February 2024.

Given funding is important for reaching parity of esteem, we are making good progress with investment in National Health Service mental health services. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, NHS spending on mental health has increased by £4.7 billion in cash terms, as compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the Long-Term Plan. For 2024/25, mental health spend is forecast to continue to grow, and will make up 9.01% of all recurrent NHS spending.

In February 2022, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, as part of its clinically led review of NHS Access Standards. These are: for an urgent referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within 24 hours of referral, across all ages; for a very urgent referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within four hours of referral, for all age groups; patients referred from accident and emergency should be seen face to face within one hour by a mental health liaison or children and young people’s equivalent service; children, young people and their families and carers presenting to community-based mental health services, should start to receive care within four weeks of referral; and adults and older adults presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive help within four weeks of referral.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of average waiting times for receiving NHS mental health (a) treatment and (b) other support services on the (i) wellbeing and (ii) employment of patients requiring those services.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

While no such assessments have been made, through the NHS Long Term Plan the Government is providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce, to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England, helping to reduce waiting times. The NHS is also working towards implementing new waiting time measures for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, to increase transparency, drive improvements in the quality of data, promote timely access to the most appropriate and high-quality support, and drive accountability in local systems.

The 2023 Spring Budget contained a package of over £400 million to support the long-term sick and disabled in remaining in or entering employment. This included approximately £75 million for the expansion of the Individual Placement and Support scheme, to help people with severe mental illness into employment. At the 2023 Autumn Statement, we announced a further £795 million of funding to increase the number of sessions per course of Talking Therapies treatment and broaden access, leading to an expected additional 384,000 people completing a course of treatment by 2028/29. It will also fund an additional 100,000 Individual Placement and Support places over five years, which will help people with severe mental illness gain and retain paid employment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the impact of trends in the number of patients waiting for mental health treatment on the economy.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

While no such assessments have been made, through the NHS Long Term Plan the Government is providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce, to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England, helping to reduce waiting times. The NHS is also working towards implementing new waiting time measures for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, to increase transparency, drive improvements in the quality of data, promote timely access to the most appropriate and high-quality support, and drive accountability in local systems.

The 2023 Spring Budget contained a package of over £400 million to support the long-term sick and disabled in remaining in or entering employment. This included approximately £75 million for the expansion of the Individual Placement and Support scheme, to help people with severe mental illness into employment. At the 2023 Autumn Statement, we announced a further £795 million of funding to increase the number of sessions per course of Talking Therapies treatment and broaden access, leading to an expected additional 384,000 people completing a course of treatment by 2028/29. It will also fund an additional 100,000 Individual Placement and Support places over five years, which will help people with severe mental illness gain and retain paid employment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of patients (a) waiting for mental healthcare and (b) on NHS waiting lists for physical conditions who are also waiting for mental healthcare.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

There is currently no waiting times standard covering all mental health service areas. For services where a waiting times standard does exist, the latest position over the period from November 2023 to January 2024 was published by NHS England on 14 March 2024.

Information on routine and urgent referrals to children and young people’s eating disorder services and referrals to the early Intervention in Psychosis pathway is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-services-monthly-statistics/performance-january-2024

Information on referrals to NHS Talking Therapies is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-talking-therapies-monthly-statistics-including-employment-advisors/performance-january-2024

For referrals to adult community mental health services waiting for a second contact, referrals to children and young people’s community mental health services waiting for a first contact and Accident & Emergency attendances for mental health or self-harm, information is being collected to prepare for the proposed new waiting time standards being developed as part of the Clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards but these are NOT yet associated with a target. The latest position over the period from November 2023 to January 2024 is available at the following link:

Information on the number of patients on NHS waiting lists for physical conditions who are also waiting for mental healthcare is not held centrally.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are expanding and transforming NHS mental health care so that more people can get the support that they need more quickly. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, the NHS forecasts that spending on mental health services has increased by £4.6 billion in cash terms, compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the NHS Long Term Plan. All integrated boards are also on track to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2023/24.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for mental health services.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

More and more people are getting support with their mental health thanks to investments made through the NHS Long Term Plan. Unfortunately, demand has risen as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in the cost of living on people’s mental health continues to be felt. This means that some people are facing waiting times that are much longer than we would like.

We are providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services, to expand access and reduce waiting times. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, NHS spending on mental health has increased by £4.6 billion in cash terms, as compared to the target of £3.4 billion in cash terms set out at the time of the Long Term Plan. The NHS Long Term Plan committed to grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff between 2019/20 and 2023/24. We are making positive progress, delivering two-thirds of this, or 17,000 additional staff, by September 2023, with further significant growth expected by the end of this financial year.

The NHS is also working towards implementing five new waiting time measures for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, for both adults, and children and young people. This includes working towards improving the quality of data that we have on waiting times for people requiring mental healthcare, in both accident and emergency and in the community. NHS England began publishing this new data in 2023 to improve transparency and drive local accountability.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people in South Cumbria identified as highly complex or at high risk to self or others are on the waiting list for (a) cognitive behavioural therapy, (b) psychology and (c) family therapy as of 29 January 2024.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

This information is not held in the format requested.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people who were referred to child and adolescent mental health services waited (a) two weeks, (b) one month, (c) three months, (d) six months and (e) longer than six months for an assessment in the last 12 months.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

The following table shows the number of referrals of children and young people aged between zero and 17 years old in England in 2021/22, as well as the time waiting between referral and their second contact for the timescales available:

Source: NHS England

Note: These statistics are classified as experimental and should be used with caution.

Found: health clinically- led review of standards consultation response, 22 February 2022 70 PQ 197297 [on Mental