Recommendation 5

The Department and NHS England have still not committed to rolling out waiting times standards to all mental health services. From 2015, NHSE introduced specific waiting times standards for three service areas – talking therapy services, early intervention in psychosis services and eating disorder services for children and young people. Unlike the standards for physical health services, the current standards for mental health only apply to a limited number of service areas; they do not cover the bulk of core community and inpatient mental health services. In 2022, NHSE consulted on new waiting times standards for mental health services in the community and A&E, but it has not confirmed whether and when these will be implemented. NHSE says it has been improving data collection in preparation for the new standards over the last few years, but that is yet to agree with the Government on “trajectories for working towards meeting those standards”. Stakeholders we spoke to argued that the introduction of new standards would also provide the much needed impetus for providers to improve data, and so poor data was not a reason to delay standards being introduced. Recommendation 5: In its update to us in six months, the Department and NHS England should set out their plan for implementing the new service standards.