Staffing 'a challenge' in improving access to mental health care

Ensuring there are enough staff working in mental health care will be one of the biggest challenges in improving patient access to services, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

Waiting time and access standards have been introduced for three mental health services in England – improved access to psychological therapies, early intervention in psychosis, and liaison psychiatry.

The targets aim to ensure that:

• 75% of people who are referred to the improved access to psychological therapies programme are treated within six weeks of referral.
• All acute trusts have a liaison psychiatry service, allowing people who arrive at emergency departments to access mental health assessments and short-term mental health care.

In a report published this week, the NAO said the Department of Health (DH) and NHS England are making progress, particularly in setting priorities and providing leadership, but that significant risks to improving access remain.

The scrutiny body said more work is required to understand the staff numbers needed.

The report added that there is disagreement between Health Education England (HEE) and NHS trusts about the number of mental health nurses required in coming years.

Trusts predict that demand for mental health nurses will fall, but HEE said implementing the standards will require their numbers to rise from 39,000 in 2014 to 42,000 in 2020. HEE increased the number of training places in line with its estimates.

Mental health nurse and independent healthcare investigator Malcolm Rae said there may be enough nurses for the three areas being targeted. But he said there would be a knock-on effect when nurses apply for higher graded posts in these areas and leave gaps in acute inpatient settings.

Read the report here