Recurring concern
Unreliable access to talking therapies
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Request correctionFirst reported 31 Jan 2014•Latest report 6 Mar 2025
What this concern includes
Includes failures in the dedicated talking-therapies access pathway, including referral eligibility and acceptance criteria, referral routes, service-user communication about referral status, waiting-list management and timely provision of talking therapies where these deficiencies can prevent or delay appropriate support.
Not included
- Excludes generic mental-health service access or referral failures that are not specifically tied to talking therapies.
- Excludes failures in the quality or clinical content of therapy after treatment has commenced.
- Excludes generic staffing, communication or capacity deficiencies unless they directly impair access to talking therapies.
- Excludes access failures for other specialist mental-health services unless the reports explicitly support their inclusion in the same talking-therapies pathway.
- Reports
- 11
- Individual concerns
- 12
- Date range
- 2014–2025
- Stated actions
- 21
Distinct published reports
A report can raise multiple concerns
First to latest report issue date
Described in published responses
Reports over time
Reports 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.
Concerns and responses across reports
Only concerns grouped under this recurring concern are included. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.
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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.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
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Action
Develop revised mental-health access and waiting-time standards to improve parity with physical-health services.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care -
Action
Implement revised mental-health access and waiting-time standards through a phased programme beginning in April 2015.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
Data last updated 7 September 2026