Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
We asked the Department for Education what it considers it can do to support young...
Recommendation
We asked the Department for Education what it considers it can do to support young girls with their mental health. It told us that it ensures the work it does with the Department of Health and Social Care is built on an understanding of the data, so that it can spot patterns in the data and “make that part of the conversation”. It told us that the government has invested an extra £2.3 billion a year for mental health services overall by 2023–24, which should enable an extra 345,000 children and young people to access NHS-funded mental health support. It added that some of the funding will be spent on eating disorder services resulting in another 2,000 places in eating disorder services this year. When asked whether departments are doing enough on preventative work on mental health, the Department for Education told us that it could not say it was sufficient given there is “obviously still a problem”.46 Currently there are 750 children and young people waiting for mental health treatment in Gloucestershire with some young people waiting over 18 months. The Department for Education said it would write to us with further details on the waiting times.47
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to report back to the Committee within six months on progress on the implementation of access standards for community and A&E mental health care, referencing NHS England's consultation and guidance.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5: PAC conclusion: We are extremely concerned about the waiting time for children to receive support for mental health issues and about the proportion of adolescent girls seeking help. 5: PAC recommendation: Government should report back to the Committee within six months on progress on the implementation of access standards for community and A&E mental health care. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 In summer 2021, NHS England consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards. All proposed standards and recommendations have been piloted since May 2019 and build on the transformation of services set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. These are: • For an ‘urgent’ referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within 24 hours from referral, across all ages; • For a ‘very urgent’ referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within four hours from referral, for all age groups; • Patients referred from Accident and Emergency should be seen face to face within one hour, by mental health liaison or children and young people’s equivalent service; • Children, young people and their families/carers presenting to community-based mental health services, should start to receive help within four weeks from referral; and • Adults and older adults presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive help within four weeks from referral. 5.3 In February 2022, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services as part of its clinically-led review of NHS Access Standards. 5.4 In terms of progress, 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. NHS England is developing implementation proposals for consideration by the government.