Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what waiting time targets are in place for access to (a) mental health treatment and (b) talking therapies for children experiencing mental health problems; and how many times any such targets have been missed in each of the last 12 months.

Nicola Blackwood

Access and waiting times standards for people aged from 14 to 65 years old experiencing a first episode of psychosis came into effect in April 2016. The target is that more than 50% of all people experiencing a first episode of psychosis should receive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-concordant treatment within two weeks of referral.

There is also a waiting time standards for improving access to psychological therapies for all ages (six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks).

There is no waiting time target for access to mental health treatment or talking therapies specifically for children experiencing mental health problems.

Experimental data to monitor the waiting time target for people experiencing a first episode of psychosis has been collected by NHS England since December 2015 and is available at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/eip-waiting-times/

Some experimental data from the Mental Health Services Data Set relevant to waiting times standards is also published by NHS Digital.

The most recent figures are at:

http://content.digital.nhs.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=23263&returnid=1741

Information about Improving Access to Psychological Therapies is available at:

http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21575

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