Waiting times of mental health in a “scandal within sight”, says RCN | News

At least 1.3 million people have introduced themselves in a crisis on mental health in the past six years, a request from the RCN Freedom of Information (FOI) to NHS Trusts in England.

The nursing staff has reported the RCN Long maintenance periods on patients with mental health in emergency rooms – a few up to three days – with care patients being cared for by security officers, others who try suicide and some go before they receive treatment.

They also say that they “excessively burned out” and “destroyed” by the requirements they have been provided and “destroyed” that they cannot offer better care.

The number of people who are waiting for mental health more than 12 hours after the decision has increased by 383% since 2019.

In her keynote approach to thousands of nursing staff who visited the RCN Congress in Liverpool, RCN general secretary and managing director, Professor Nicola Ranger, said this practice must stop. She described it as a “scandal within sight” and said that if the “parity of the appreciation between mental and physical health means something, then these extremely humiliating wait”.

Nicola also condemned cuts in mental health and calls for the long -awaited urgent and emergency improvement plan in England to take specific measures to combat the psychological health crisis in A&E.

The demand for secondary psychiatric services in England has increased by 106% in a decade – between 2014/15 and 2023/24 from 1.8 million to 3.8 million contacts and recommendations. However, the workers of mental health care did not keep up, which means fewer nurses per patient.

During the same period, the number of registered nurses for mental health in the NHS in England increased only by 12% (from one monthly average from 36,758 to 41,100). While the number of nurses in the community rose by 39% (from a monthly average from 14,994 to 20,829). This remains far behind the 106% increase in demand.

Despite the entire growing workforce of mental health between 2010 and 2023, the number of nurses only rose by 3%during this period. In the meantime, the therapists and support employees rose by 45%. In contrast to nurses in mental health, it is also not trained to support people in acute need who are forced to wait long periods of time in A&E and need immediate and intensive help.

In her keynote, Nicola said: “No less than urgent and persistent investments in mental health care in the community can ensure that everyone accepts timely care in the right place. This is how they turn the lives of people and relieve pressure on the emergency room.”