The Care Quality Commission’s annual report on the Mental Health Act paints a picture of services that are struggling to cope with high levels of need with insufficient resources and often inadequate facilities, Centre for Mental Health chief executive Andy Bell said today.
“The Commission’s report shows that NHS mental health services in England are under intense pressure and as a result people are struggling to get help before they reach crisis point. This makes a hospital admission under the Mental Health Act more likely and means people are more unwell by the time they get support. The continued absence of mandatory access and waiting time standards for mental health care is a major block to reducing the unacceptably long waits many people experience for these essential services.
Rising numbers of community treatment orders (CTOs) are especially worrying. These orders are disproportionately used with racialised communities, especially Black men, and they extend coercion beyond hospital walls. The new Mental Health Act is a vital opportunity to better regulate and limit the use of CTOs which we urge the Government to take as a priority for implementing the new law.
The report shows that inpatient services are too often under-staffed and in unacceptably poor environments. This must change. That means investing in better facilities, and in a workforce that can meet people’s needs. But we also need investment in alternatives to inpatient care, including better support in community settings so that hospitals are only used when there is no alternative and avoiding sending people to beds far from their homes, families and friends.
The report shows that people from deprived areas are much more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. This is an important reminder that mental ill health is too often a result of inequality and injustice. Taking steps to prevent mental health problems and providing early help in communities and places with the most pressing needs must be a priority.
There is little that’s new in this year’s Mental Health Act report. But it’s an important reminder of the structural disadvantage faced by mental health services across the NHS, and of the inequalities that drive so much mental distress in our society. It must be a spur to concerted action to turn around the nation’s mental health, to invest wisely in mental health services, and to equalise access and waiting time standards.”
