Emily Wooster, Policy Manager at the Mental Health Foundation, said: Today’s release of the national statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) reinforces the We Need To Talk coalition’s message that provision of talking therapies is a post code lottery with a huge disparity of access across the country. According to HSCIC, in some areas only three per cent of referrals were seen within 28 days, ranging up to 96% in other areas. We must press home to politicians that the NHS should be able to offer these therapies within 28 days of asking for referral. Jenny Edwards CBE, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said: “The effectiveness of evidence based psychological therapies is proven. Despite the clear case for timely access people have to wait far too long, even up to a year before they start to receive help. This is costly to the health of the people waiting and has an impact on many aspects of their lives – their work, relationships and ability to cope. People have a right to expect parity in how they are treated whether their ill health is mental or physical. “Early intervention is common sense and will help people avoid ending up in crisis, with risking harm to themselves and high costs to health services. People from black and minority ethnic communities, people in later life and young people must not be left behind in the drive to provide psychological therapies so we can reduce health inequalities.” The latest figures for access to psychological therapies can be found here: hscic.gov.uk/article/5035/Psychological-therapy-big-difference-in-waiting-times-across-the-country
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 14:51:19 +0000
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