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Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN 56565, tabled on 15 October 2021

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact that the covid-19 outbreak has had on waiting lists for mental health services.

Answered on

26 October 2021

We are monitoring the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the mental health of adults, children and young people as new evidence becomes available. While increased demand has resulted in longer waiting times for some, it cannot currently be quantified as national access and waiting times standards for National Health Service adult and children and young people’s mental health services have not yet been defined.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have consulted on five new waiting time standards as part of its clinically-led review of access standards. The consultation closed on 1 September 2021 and NHS England and NHS Improvement expect to publish the response to the consultation by the end of this year.