NHS England providing £10m to mental health trusts this Winter

NHS England is providing an additional £10m to mental health trusts this winter, to ease pressure on emergency services.

It also plans to allocate dozens of mental health professionals to work in ambulance control centres and accompany paramedics on emergency call-outs to treat people having a mental health crisis at the scene. Guidance for mental health trusts about how this will work will be published later this week.

Figures from two ambulance trusts show that having a mental professional answering, or responding to, 999 calls could reduce the chances of a patient needing to go to A&E from approximately 50% to 20%.

Demand for crisis mental health services across England has doubled since 2017.

More than 90,000 people a month have been referred to community crisis services, while about 200,000 people a month have also called 24/7 crisis lines.

Rates of mental ill health are already soaring, and this winter is likely to be very difficult for many, particularly given the rising cost of living.

The £10m investment will enable mental health professionals to be placed in ambulance control centres and accompany paramedics on emergencies.

Posted on Dec 13, 2022.

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