Mind responses to CQC report on state of mental health services
Today the Care Quality Commission has published a report that looks at the state of mental health services 2014-2017.
The full CQC report can be found here.
Sophie Corlett, Director of External Relations at mental health charity Mind, said:
"We welcome this report, which provides a comprehensive picture of mental health services in England. It is encouraging to see over the last three years there is evidence of some improvement across the sector and a few really outstanding examples of good practice in mental health care.
"It is also reassuring to see that almost every service has been rated as good or outstanding for having caring staff - we know that staff working in mental health do a difficult job but their compassion can make all the difference for people under their care.
“Although some services have got it right, there is still huge variation across the country and there are some pockets of disturbing information in this report. There are places where people wait too long, are treated far from home or are subjected to high levels of physical restraint. This is unacceptable. We are particularly concerned that inspections have found an unsettling number of services that are unsafe and some which are still institutionalising people. These old-fashioned services have no place in modern healthcare and prevent people from getting better.
“Mental health has been underfunded and under-resourced for many years, with dire consequences for people with mental health problems. The Five Year Forward View for mental health gives us the opportunity to get this right, to start building the kind of NHS mental health services that will carry us into the future. This report shows that some providers are leading the way, but it is clear that we still have a long way to go before everyone with a mental health problem gets the help and support they need.”
On the use of locked wards she said:
“There are some worrying things in here from the point of view of people receiving services, some that you would really not expect to be seeing in 2017.
"We have had many years of knowing that being in long-stay, locked accommodation is of no use to you, is expensive to the nation and is a human rights abuse, effectively to take away your liberty and to give you no therapeutic future.
“To see that there are 3,500 people in effectively institutionalised settings in 2017 is unacceptable."
