Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) adults and (b) children on NHS waiting lists for mental health treatment have been waiting for more than two years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The data is not held in the format requested as a national access and waiting times standard for National Health Service mental health services has not yet been defined.
Currently access and waiting times standards exist for Access to NHS Talking Therapies available at the following link:
Early intervention for psychosis services available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/eip-waiting-times/
and Children and young people's eating disorder services available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cyped-waiting-times/.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards for adults and children as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards. These include that children, young people and their families, presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) adults and (b) children on NHS waiting lists for mental health treatment have been waiting for more than one year.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The data is not held in the format requested as a national access and waiting times standard for National Health Service mental health services has not yet been defined.
Currently access and waiting times standards exist for Access to NHS Talking Therapies available at the following link:
Early intervention for psychosis services available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/eip-waiting-times/
and Children and young people's eating disorder services available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cyped-waiting-times/.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards for adults and children as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards. These include that children, young people and their families, presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will help tackle waiting times for mental health (a) counselling and (b) therapy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Major Conditions Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care. Interventions set out in the Strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system. An interim report will be published in the summer.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 help reduce waiting lists for autism assessments in England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We expect integrated care boards to have due regard to relevant best practice guidelines when commissioning services, including for autism assessments. The waiting time standard recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is for a maximum waiting time of 13 weeks between a referral for an autism assessment and a first appointment.
NHS England are developing a national framework to set out the process of how children, young people and adults might receive a diagnostic assessment of autism. The aim of this work is to improve access to and the quality of these diagnostic processes and reduce waiting times. The framework will be published in due course.
Building on the 2021/22 investment of £13 million, through the NHS Long Term Plan and COVID-19 Mental Health Recovery Plan, we are investing £2.5 million in 2022/23 to support local areas with improvements in autism assessment pathways.
We are also investing £600,000 into expanding an autism early identification pilot to at least a hundred schools in the Bradford area over five years. This programme will help with the early identification of neurodivergent children.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people were on waiting lists to access (1) mental health support, and (2) an inpatient mental health bed, on 1 October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of waiting times for mental health support on the incidence of self-harm.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst we have made no specific assessment, we expanded the scope of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2017 to include addressing self-harm as a highlighted issue, and we continue to fund the Multi-Centre Study of Self-harm which is the most in-depth analysis and monitoring of self-harming trends in England. The NHS Long Term Plan also commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people can get the NHS-funded mental health support that they need.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for mental health support from (1) Step 1 initial assessment, (2) Step 2 low intensity, and (3) Step 3 high intensity; and in each case, what is the level of variation from the average by Trust.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected centrally, as a national access and waiting times standard for both adults’ and children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for an appointment with an NHS mental health professional in each region in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not held centrally as there is no single waiting time standard across all mental health services and age groups. Data for services against which a waiting time standard has been set is published on a quarterly basis. Waiting times for access to psychological therapies, early intervention in psychosis and children and young people eating disorder services is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/.
In February 2022, NHS England published the outcome of a consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average waiting time for children and adolescent mental health services in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting lists for those services in those areas.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No estimate has been made as there is no universal waiting time standard across all children and young people’s mental health services. Waiting times data are available for services where a waiting time standard is in place. These include access to early intervention in psychosis and children and young people’s eating disorders, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
In February 2022, NHS England published the outcome of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. This includes for children, young people and their families or carers presenting to community-based mental health services to receive care within four weeks from referral. We are working with NHS England on on the next steps following this consultation.
In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan commits to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to enable an additional 345,000 children and young people to receive National Health Service-funded mental health support. This includes eight mental health support teams either in place or planned for primary, secondary and further education settings in the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made on the number of children on wait lists for treatment at CAHMS.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made as a national access and waiting times standard for child and adolescent mental health services has not yet been defined.
NHS England consulted on the definition and introduction of five proposed waiting time standards, including for children, young people and their families/carers, presenting to community-based mental health services to receive care within four weeks of referral. This may involve immediate advice, support or a brief intervention, help to access another service, commencing a longer-term intervention or agreement about a patient care plan or a specialist assessment. We are working with NHS England on the next steps following the conclusion of the consultation.