CQC urges people to share their experiences of crisis care in England

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is inviting people who have experienced a crisis to share their experiences of the help, support and care they received.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is carrying out a review of mental health crisis care in England. As part of this review they will be inviting those who have personally experienced a crisis or supported someone else in crisis, to share their experiences of the help, support and care they received. This will help determine how quickly and efficiently local services respond and whether they help people to recover.

This review is part of the CQC’s response as a signatory to the Department of Health’s Mental Health Crisis Concordat, an agreement between a number of organisations on how best to respond to people who urgently need help in a mental health crisis.

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
“We are very pleased that the CQC has listened to the concerns of organisations like Mind and chosen mental health crisis care services as the focus of a review. When you are in crisis, you need urgent help, just as you would if you had a physical health emergency, but we know that too often people don't get the help they need.

"Mind has long been calling for improvements to crisis care including, most crucially, access to the right services at the right time. Recent cuts to NHS funding for mental health has had a huge impact on services, with bed and staffing shortages making it even harder for people to get adequate care, so this review is especially well-timed.

"Excellent crisis care does exist and we want to see the services delivered by the best become the basic standard for all NHS crisis care services. The CQC's review can help make this happen. We hope that, together with yesterday's announcement about the crisis care concordat, we are finally a step closer to achieving good crisis care for everyone who needs it, when they need it."