Recurring concern
Insufficient mental health service capacity for timely patient care
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Request correctionFirst reported 14 Aug 2013•Latest report 24 Oct 2025
What this concern includes
Includes failures of funding, staffing, recruitment, retention, service capacity or resource resilience that are explicitly tied to the ability of mental health services to provide timely and safe patient care, including psychiatric units, CAMHS, older-age psychiatric teams and comparable mental health services.
Not included
- Excludes generic workforce, funding or resource deficiencies without an explicit mental health service safety impact.
- Excludes delays or access failures in a specific mental health pathway when the wider service-capacity deficiency is not identified.
- Excludes non-mental-health services, including police, ambulance, epilepsy, maternity, social-care and general hospital capacity concerns.
- Excludes deficiencies in a separately named mental health system or pathway where that named concern provides the more specific supported boundary, unless the assertion also directly identifies inadequate overall mental health service capacity.
- Reports
- 40
- Individual concerns
- 48
- Date range
- 2013–2025
- Stated actions
- 87
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 raised2
Insufficient staffing capacity on mental health wards
Insufficient experience across the mental health ward staff pool
This report raised 10 other concerns. 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.3
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Action
Streamline Matron attendance at Safe Care and Sit-Rep meetings while maintaining ward staffing and clinical-quality oversight.
Stated by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Maintain Practice Development Nurses on wards to mentor, coach and train staff supporting preceptorship nurses.
Stated by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Ensure preceptorship nurses are not the sole registered nurse on a ward by rostering an experienced nurse alongside them.
Stated by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.2
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Position
MHOST establishments, daily staffing reviews and escalation arrangements are considered sufficient to meet ward clinical demands and address staffing shortfalls.
Stated by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
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Position
Responsibility for local mental health staffing and operations lies with the relevant trust, not the Government.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
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Concerns raised1
Insufficient commissioned capacity for timely mental health therapy support
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.4
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Action
Use benchmarking to map psychological-therapy provision gaps and inform long-term commissioning plans.
Stated by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board -
Action
Explore targeted recruitment, training and retention measures to increase the psychological-therapy workforce.
Stated by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board -
Action
Review and evolve commissioning practices to better align psychological-therapy provision with population needs.
Stated by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
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Action
Commission Kooth and Qwell online platforms to provide free, anonymous, clinically supervised mental-health support.
Stated by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Commissioned psychological therapy capacity cannot currently meet all identified need because of longstanding underinvestment and financial constraints.
Stated by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
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Concerns raised1
Inadequate staffing of the Perinatal Mental Health Service
This report raised 5 other concerns. 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.1
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Action
Review Health Visiting Services and wider perinatal provision to identify access gaps and make recommendations.
Stated by Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
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Concerns raised1
Reduction of services for people with mental health difficulties due to cutbacks and funding issues
This report raised 3 other concerns. 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.5
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Action
Recruit staff to improve Sussex Mental Health Line capacity.
Stated by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Improve Sussex Mental Health Line productivity to address demand and unanswered calls.
Stated by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Raise the gap between helpline demand and available financial resources with NHS Sussex commissioners.
Stated by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
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Action
Make ongoing Sussex Mental Health Line improvement a key objective in the 2025/26 annual plan.
Stated by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Transform Staying Well into an open-access out-of-hours crisis service, rebrand and promote it, and increase its availability.
Stated by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
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Concerns raised1
Delays in access to prescribing mental health practitioners
This report raised 3 other concerns. 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.1
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Action
Recruit 8,500 additional, specially trained mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment for people at risk of suicide.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
-
Concerns raised1
Inadequate staffing levels in community mental health services
This report raised 2 other concerns. 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.1
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Action
Recruit staff into vacant and newly funded community mental health posts to increase team workforce capacity.
Stated by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Recruitment and an established escalation process are considered sufficient to address the risk of inadequate staffing in the immediate future.
Stated by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
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Concerns raised1
Underfunding of local mental health beds
This report raised 7 other concerns. 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.1
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Action
Provide £42 million recurrent funding to Integrated Care Boards to support delivery of localised and realigned inpatient care.
Stated by NHS England
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Concerns raised1
Lack of CAMHS resources keeping pace with increasing demand
This report raised 3 other concerns. 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
Invest in the CYPMH workforce and expand NHS mental health support access for children and young people.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Recruit 8,500 additional staff across children’s and adult mental health services.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Delivering expanded children’s mental health access ambitions is subject to future funding settlements, with plans to be clarified later.
Stated by NHS England
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Concerns raised1
Continued shortages in psychiatric care provision
This report raised 6 other concerns. 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.7
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Action
Operate the Lighthouse assessment centre for mental health patients attending the emergency department.
Stated by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Maintain safer staffing levels and a full liaison psychiatry staff complement at St Mary’s Hospital.
Stated by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust -
Action
Continue recruiting and retaining staff, monitor recruitment and vacancies, and implement supportive initiatives.
Stated by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
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Action
Publish and implement the Long-Term Workforce Plan to train, retain and reform the NHS workforce, including growth in psychiatric care staffing.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Increase clinical psychology and child and adolescent psychotherapy training places, with more than 1,000 places annually through 2028/29.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Fund training for approximately 15,000 additional psychological therapists and practitioners over the next three years.
Stated by NHS England -
Action
Increase mental health nursing training places by 38%.
Stated by NHS England
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
The Trust disputes shortages in psychiatric care provision at its St Mary’s site, stating it maintained safer staffing and a full liaison psychiatry complement.
Stated by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
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Concerns raised2
Unfilled consultant-level vacancies
Long-term difficulties with mental health staff recruitment
This report raised 7 other concerns. 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.1
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Action
Grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff to increase service capacity.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Trusts are responsible for ensuring safe staffing levels in the current day-to-day operation of their hospitals.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
Data last updated 7 September 2026