Some mental health patients in England are still having to travel more than 300 miles for hospital treatment two years after the government pledged to end the “completely unacceptable” practice.
The number of patients in crisis forced to move potentially hundreds of miles for NHS help is rising again after falling during the pandemic, separating them from family and support networks and potentially delaying their recuperation.
According to official data seen by the Observer, 420 so-called “out of area” treatments started in February because no local beds were available – up from 240 in February last year. The most recent NHS England records show there are 720 out of area placements deemed “inappropriate”, risking the patient’s recovery.
In one case in Dorset last year, a patient was sent 380 miles away, according to data revealed under the Freedom of Information Act by Labour. Trusts in Somerset and Essex were also found to have sent patients more than 300 miles from their home. The findings come despite a government pledge to end out-of-area placement for adults needing acute inpatient care by April 2021. At least 16 trusts said they had sent a patient more than 100 miles from home in 2022, but not all trusts responded.
Dr Mayura Deshpande, an associate registrar for policy at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said targets for eliminating the practice had been “widely missed” and called for an urgent plan for the proper funding of mental health services. “It’s completely unacceptable that some mental health patients are having to travel hundreds of miles for care at a time when they are at their most vulnerable,” she said.
“We urgently need more funding for mental health services so that patients can receive the best standard of care not only when they need it, but also where they need it. This funding should help ensure there are sufficient beds and appropriate community services in place to meet the needs of an area’s population.”
It comes as Keir Starmer prepares to make a major speech on the NHS on Monday, in which he will warn the service is “not sustainable unless we make serious, deep, long-term changes”. In the clearest sign yet he is contemplating major reforms, he will warn that his party cannot “place the NHS on a pedestal and leave it there” The Labour leader will say he is among those who believe they “owe the NHS everything” because of the care it provided for his mother Josephine, an NHS nurse who suffered from Still’s disease – a rare form of inflammatory arthritis. However, he will say increased funding alone will not solve the problems facing the service. “Some people will tell you this is purely a question of money – and money is part of it – but you can’t look at the problems now and tell me it’s just about money,” he will say. “That’s not serious.
“At the next election the NHS is on the line. The Conservative Party that has brought it to its knees will put it in the ground. But mark my words, if all we do in the Labour Party is place the NHS on a pedestal and leave it there – that’s not good enough. We’ve got to fix the fundamentals, renew its purpose, make it fit for the future.”
Demand for mental health beds has been increasing since the pandemic, said Sarah Scobie, of the Nuffield Trust thinktank. She said that more beds alone were not a solution in mental health services. “We need to see greater investment in prevention and more staff in care settings outside hospitals and in local communities to reduce pressure on in-patient mental health services,” she said.
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Rosena Allin-Khan, the shadow minister for mental health, accused the government of running down mental healthcare over the past 13 years and pledged Labour would “guarantee that mental health support is there when you need it”. The party has pledged to recruit 8,500 new mental health support staff.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Everyone should have access to safe, appropriate mental health care close to home, and we are committed to ending inappropriate out-of-area placements for patients. We’re investing an extra £2.3bn per year in mental health services by 2023-24 so that an additional 2 million people can get the support they need, and investing an extra £150m to support people experiencing mental health crisis.”
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