Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Not Addressed
Extend 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre pilot programme with funding and finalise metrics.
Recommendation
The design of these centres must be informed by the learnings from the pilot programme so they can be tailored to the needs of their communities. In order for the learnings to be robust, the 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre pilot programme must be extended by at least 12 months beyond April 2026, with additional service development funding to allow all sites to become fully operational and generate sufficient data for analysis. This will require NHS England to finalise the outcome measures and evaluation metrics for the pilots without further delay. (Recommendation, Paragraph 93)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government partially accepts the recommendation but then responds by discussing physical health outcomes for people with SMI and annual physical health checks, completely failing to address the call for extending the 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre pilot programme or finalising its evaluation metrics.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The government partially accepts this recommendation. While we agree that the design and future expansion of community based mental health centres must be informed by learning from the pilot programme and tailored to the needs of local communities, there are no current plans to extend the pilot phase beyond 12 months. Rapid learning is already being generated through NHS England’s national implementation team, drawing on real time intelligence from the pilot sites, local findings and continuous feedback from people with lived experience, families and staff. This learning is actively informing refinement of the service model. An independent evaluation will report after the 12-month period, providing an assessment of outcomes, experience and value for money once the pilots are fully operational. NHS England has confirmed the evaluation questions and metrics which will be used. Combining rapid, real-time learning with a formal evaluation will provide a robust evidence base to inform future decisions on duration, funding and wider rollout of community based mental health centres.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗