The number of beds in NHS mental health hospitals has fallen by a quarter since 2010, forcing more patients who are seriously ill to be taken far away from home in order to receive treatment, Labour has revealed.
Its analysis of official figures shows that the NHS in England now has almost 6,000 fewer beds for people with conditions such as schizophrenia or eating and personality disorders. There were 23,447 consultant-led mental health beds in 2010-11 and 17,610 in 2020-21, a reduction of 5,837 (25%).
The supply of beds for vulnerable patients needing urgent treatment has been cut despite a big rise in recent years in the number of people seeking help from the NHS for mental illness. The Covid pandemic is widely expected to lead to a surge in need for psychological and psychiatric help, with some experts anticipating a potential tripling of demand.
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, the shadow minister for mental health, said the “shocking” loss of beds meant patients were having to wait longer to start potentially life-saving care.
“These figures are staggering. With bed availability at dangerous levels owing to cuts, and numbers of patients increasing, there is a perfect storm,” said Allin-Khan, who undertook the analysis. “The cuts to mental health beds have exacerbated waiting times for treatment for some of the most serious mental illnesses. Without beds, people requiring urgent treatment for eating disorders, schizophrenia and personality disorders are likely to face even longer waits.”
Bed numbers have fallen even though the number of people in touch with NHS mental health services has risen from 117,000 in January 2016 to 141,000 in March this year – a 21% increase. The number of specialist mental health beds decreased by about 1,500 during that time, NHS England data shows.
The number of people in contact with mental health services who were subject to the Mental Health Act, many of whom were sectioned into residential care for their own or others’ safety, also rose over almost the same period, from 13,437 in March 2016 to 20,494 in March this year, up 53%.
The loss of beds has led to a doubling in the number of patients sent on an “out-of-area placement” more than 300km (186 miles) from their home – so that they have a bed and can start being treated – from 38 in 2017 to 75 last year.
“Conservative governments have said they’d prioritise mental health – but this evidence shows things are getting worse,” said Allin-Khan.
Experts warned that the loss of beds risks damaging patients’ already fragile mental health. Dr Trudi Seneviratne, the registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Sending mental health patients far from home, sometimes hundreds of miles away, because there isn’t the right bed available locally, is completely unacceptable. It can have a devastating impact on patients and their loved ones. Treating patients close to home speeds up recovery, reduces the risk of suicide and shortens hospital stays.”
She said it was “extremely disappointing” that the NHS’s progress towards realising its ambition of eliminating out-of-area placements had stalled. “We need urgent action to ensure that local mental health beds are readily available for all patients that need them.”
Members of the committee of the Mental Health Nurses Association, which is part of the trade union Unite, said Allin-Khan’s findings tallied with their own struggles to find beds for acutely unwell patients.
One told how patients turning up with mental health problems at A&E units in Manchester had to be sent 145 miles away to Newcastle because there were no beds available in the city.
Others said some patients experiencing a flare-up of their mental illness had been taken to prison facilities, again because there was no specialist bed available nearby. Another said the more limited services being offered by community mental health teams because of Covid restrictions, notably fewer face-to-face appointments, were contributing to people becoming very unwell.
David Munday, Unite’s lead officer for mental health, who is a mental health nurse, said: “A number of issues have combined to create multiple problems that are of the Conservative governments’ own making. These include historic and continuing reductions in mental health beds that have gone too far, a failure to adequately plan [mental health] staffing, an overreliance on expensive out-of-area private beds, repeated NHS pay cuts and repeated years of austerity.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It is completely unacceptable for patients to be sent away from their loved ones for treatment and we have committed to end inappropriate out-of-area placements.
“We have published our mental health recovery action plan, backed by £500m, to ensure that we have the right support in place this year for those who need it. This is in addition to our commitment to expand and transform mental health services with an additional £2.3bn a year by 2023-24 and introducing new models of care to give 370,000 adults with serious mental illness greater choice and control over their care, supporting them to live well in their communities.”