Thousands of mental health patients in England are being treated in buildings that are “dangerous” and unsuitable for their purpose, Britain’s most senior psychiatrist has warned.
Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has urged the government to fund six new mental health hospitals as part of its promise to build 48 new hospitals by 2030.
falling apart National Health Service Buildings, leaky roofs and faulty equipment are putting the nation’s most severely mentally ill people at risk of harm and hindering their chances of recovery, James said.
The government has promised billions in funds to build 48 hospitals by 2030. Of the first 40 hospital projects announced, only two were for mental health, according to the university. The final eight projects have yet to be named, but James said at least six of them should be for mental health patients, to “address program imbalance.”
“Thousands of people with a mental illness in England are being treated in mental health hospitals that are dangerously old and unfit for their purpose,” James said. “Psychiatrists across the country are having to assess and treat patients in buildings that are falling apart and collapsing.
“People with mental illness will feel let down unless we have fit-for-purpose buildings. The government can no longer afford to pay lip service to esteem parity and treat mental health as an afterthought. We need a firm commitment from the government that at least six of the new hospitals will be for mental health.”
A total of 269 James psychiatrist colleagues have written a letter to their MP highlighting their concern about the dire state of mental health hospitals. They also issued a warning that the number of people requiring mental health support is unlikely to drop to pre-pandemic levels. The data shows record numbers are seeking help as NHS staff struggle to deal with the huge backlog of care.
The Covid crisis has caused a wave of new or worsening cases of mental health problems. Mental health care has also deteriorated during the pandemic, with people not getting the support they need and not knowing where to turn in a crisis, which has further damaged some people’s mental health.
The most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey of 17,322 people who used NHS community mental health services in England in 2020 and 2021 found that people’s experience in some areas of care is on point. lowest in eight years.
While the NHS heritage as a whole is in urgent need of attention, mental health facilities are in greater need than most, says the letter from psychiatrists to MPs. “Compared to acute general status, nearly twice the mental health status in use today was built before 1948.
“These dilapidated NHS buildings, with leaking roofs and faulty equipment, coupled with a failure to implement Covid safety measures such as social distancing, are putting patients at risk and hampering their recovery.”
According to the most recently available NHS data, the backlog of ‘high risk’ maintenance at mental health and learning disabilities sites increased by 34% compared to a year ago and by 336% compared to four years ago. years, the university said.
A retired psychiatrist told his MP: “Do you realize that in my professional life the availability and quality of inpatient psychiatric facilities in the UK have drastically deteriorated?
“Many people mistakenly imagine that ‘things must be looking up,’ but the opposite is true. Only serious action by government can end this slide into a complete failure to provide care for people with serious mental illness.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.
