Recurring concern
Excessive waiting times for NHS mental health services
- Reports that mention this concern
- 33
- Times this concern has been raised
- 37
- Stated actions linked to this concern
- 77
What this concern includes
Includes excessive or unsafe waiting times within NHS mental health services, including delays in referral assessment, waiting-list prioritisation, psychological therapy, psychotherapy or other necessary mental health treatment, where the report identifies the delay as a safety concern.
What is not included
- Excludes waiting times for non-mental-health services such as elective surgery, endoscopy, cardiology or emergency-department assessment.
- Excludes generic staffing, bed-capacity, funding or escalation deficiencies unless they are explicitly tied to excessive waiting times within NHS mental health services.
- Excludes failures in communication, assessment, referral handling or treatment quality that do not involve excessive access delays.
Trends
Reports over time
Reports mentioning this concern, over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Reports and published responses 33 reports
See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in providing CBT to children assessed as needing it
Linked response
- Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.1
-
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Involve Off the Record staff in CAMHS intake meetings and finalise governance arrangements for cross-organisational working.
-
Concerns raised1
Significant waiting times for access to psychological therapy
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.4
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Commission a diagnostic review of Citywide IAPT services.
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Work with providers to implement recommendations from the IAPT diagnostic review.
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Further examine waiting-list information to verify patient numbers and actions taken to manage waits.
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Work with the Trust to improve data-cleansing and waiting-list management processes.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in access to psychotherapy making it an unavailable alternative to anti-depressant medication
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Develop revised mental-health access and waiting-time standards to improve parity with physical-health services.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Implement revised mental-health access and waiting-time standards through a phased programme beginning in April 2015.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.
Data last updated 7 September 2026