Specialist mental health crisis centres will be opened across England over the next decade in an attempt to reduce crowding in accident and emergency (A&E) departments, the NHS has confirmed.
Ten hospital trusts have been piloting new assessment centres to deal with people experiencing a mental health crisis.
The aim is to get these patients into appropriate care in a calm environment, avoiding long waits in A&E.
NHS England said the new units would reduce overcrowding in hospitals and relieve pressure on emergency services, including the police.
But Andy Bell, the CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, an independent charity, said any new provision needed to be properly funded.
The scheme is expected to be expanded nationally to “dozens of locations”, the government said, as part of its 10-year NHS plan.
These clinics will be open to walk-in patients as well as those referred by GPs and police, with specialist staff present to treat people in acute mental distress.
Speaking to the Times newspaper, NHS England chief Sir Jim Mackey hailed the “pioneering new model of care”, where people can “get the right support in the right setting”.
“As well as relieving pressure on our busy A&Es, mental health crisis assessment centres can speed up access to appropriate care, offering people the help they need much sooner so they can stay out of hospital.”
NHS England said that the some of the centres will be new, self-contained units, while others will be incorporated into existing A&Es.
Mr Bell told BBC Breakfast that he was sceptical of the potential effectiveness of the scheme because it was untested.
He said it was impossible to separate out physical and mental health problems so simply, calling for separate facilities to be put in place “carefully”.
“We need to robustly test the model at every stage before we even think about rolling it out nationally,” Mr Bell added.
Calling for better funding of NHS mental health services, he noted the share of health spending on mental health treatment had gone down last year and was set to do so again.
A recent study of emergency care in England found that the number of people waiting 12 hours or more in A&E after a decision to admit to a ward was the highest since modern records began. It topped 60,000 in January, or 11% of emergency admissions.
The government also announced the expansion of a scheme last month to help GPs provide care and advice to patients without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists in England.
Baroness Merron, the minister for mental health, said: “Too often, people experiencing mental health crisis are not getting the support or care they deserve, and so it is vital that we continue to provide a range of services like this one.”
She said the government was “transforming” services – with £26m invested in new crisis centres, hiring more staff, more talking therapies, and getting waiting lists down.
“On top of this, through our proposed reforms to the Mental Health Act, we will ensure people with the most severe mental health conditions get better more personalised care.”
Conservative MP Luke Evans, the shadow minister for health and social care, said that he “welcomed” the plans, but raised concerns over cuts to mental health spending from the overall NHS budget.
He said the plans had “forced mental health charities and local authorities to redirect their resources away from those struggling most”.
“This government must now make sure that these units are funded properly so that those struggling the most with their mental health can receive the targeted and compassionate care they’re in need of.”
Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrats health and social care spokesperson, said: “The government should also be reinstating the scrapped NHS mental health targets, so that people can get the help they need before they reach breaking point.”
