Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England is operating a moratorium on the opening of new mental health beds in the areas of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and eating disorders; and if he will make a statement.

Nicola Blackwood

At present, annual expenditure on in-patient facilities for children and young people with mental health problems is £280 million this includes the expenditure on beds for those with children and young people who have eating disorders.

In 2014, the Government provided £5 million in 2014/15 to open an additional 56 beds, bringing the total to 1,442. Whilst there is no moratorium on the opening of new mental health beds , NHS England is currently undertaking a re-procurement of all Children and Young People’s Mental Health beds, so that services are commissioned which meet the needs of children and young people who require in-patient care and ensure that they are located appropriately.

The major £1.4 billion programme of investment over five years to transform children’s mental health services will increase the opportunities for earlier intervention in the community. This investment includes £150 million over five years to develop community eating disorder services for children and young people in every area of the country, as the evidence indicates that those with eating disorders recover better with this model of care.

NHS England will continue to work with clinical commissioning group commissioners to build integrated pathways of care that ensure that children and young people are only admitted to inpatient beds when it is clinically appropriate, and are discharged as soon as possible, with any appropriate follow-up care in place. For eating disorders, this will include the development of dedicated teams which will in time reduce the need for inpatient beds and shorten lengths of stay.