Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted
The Department for Education also spoke about an NHS England consultation, which closed early in...
Recommendation
The Department for Education also spoke about an NHS England consultation, which closed early in 2022, on introducing waiting time standards for community and A&E mental health care.48 The new standards would comprise a 24-hour standard for urgent community mental health care, a four-week standard for children and young people who need non-urgent community mental health care, and a standard of one hour for people arriving in A&E and needing a mental health assessment. The Department for Education described the setting of the standards as “important” as they would provide a “yardstick” for measuring performance. It said that people had welcomed the potential setting of the standards but had reported that meeting them would be a challenge.49 Youth justice
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and has been piloting five new waiting time standards since May 2019. NHS England has shared guidance for reporting waiting times and is developing implementation proposals for government consideration.
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.