Recurring concern
Insufficient mental health service capacity for timely patient care
- Reports that mention this concern
- 40
- Times this concern has been raised
- 48
- Stated actions linked to this concern
- 87
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.
What is 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.
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 40 reports
See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response
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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.
Linked responses
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Nottinghamshire Healthcare 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.3
-
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Streamline Matron attendance at Safe Care and Sit-Rep meetings while maintaining ward staffing and clinical-quality oversight.
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Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Maintain Practice Development Nurses on wards to mentor, coach and train staff supporting preceptorship nurses.
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Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Ensure preceptorship nurses are not the sole registered nurse on a ward by rostering an experienced nurse alongside them.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.2
-
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
MHOST establishments, daily staffing reviews and escalation arrangements are considered sufficient to meet ward clinical demands and address staffing shortfalls.
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Department of Health and Social Care
Responsibility for local mental health staffing and operations lies with the relevant trust, not the Government.
-
Concerns raised1
Insufficient commissioned capacity for timely mental health therapy support
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
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NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Use benchmarking to map psychological-therapy provision gaps and inform long-term commissioning plans.
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NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Explore targeted recruitment, training and retention measures to increase the psychological-therapy workforce.
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NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Review and evolve commissioning practices to better align psychological-therapy provision with population needs.
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Commission Kooth and Qwell online platforms to provide free, anonymous, clinically supervised mental-health support.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board
Commissioned psychological therapy capacity cannot currently meet all identified need because of longstanding underinvestment and financial constraints.
-
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.
Linked response
- Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
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
-
Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
Review Health Visiting Services and wider perinatal provision to identify access gaps and make recommendations.
-
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.
Linked response
- Sussex Partnership 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.5
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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Recruit staff to improve Sussex Mental Health Line capacity.
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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Improve Sussex Mental Health Line productivity to address demand and unanswered calls.
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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Raise the gap between helpline demand and available financial resources with NHS Sussex commissioners.
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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Make ongoing Sussex Mental Health Line improvement a key objective in the 2025/26 annual plan.
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Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Transform Staying Well into an open-access out-of-hours crisis service, rebrand and promote it, and increase its availability.
-
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.
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.1
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Recruit 8,500 additional, specially trained mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment for people at risk of suicide.
-
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.
Linked response
- Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health 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
-
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Recruit staff into vacant and newly funded community mental health posts to increase team workforce capacity.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Recruitment and an established escalation process are considered sufficient to address the risk of inadequate staffing in the immediate future.
-
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.
Linked response
- NHS England
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
-
NHS England
Provide £42 million recurrent funding to Integrated Care Boards to support delivery of localised and realigned inpatient care.
-
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.
Linked responses
- Department of Health and Social Care
- NHS England
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
-
NHS England
Invest in the CYPMH workforce and expand NHS mental health support access for children and young people.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Recruit 8,500 additional staff across children’s and adult mental health services.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
NHS England
Delivering expanded children’s mental health access ambitions is subject to future funding settlements, with plans to be clarified later.
-
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.
Linked responses
- Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS England
Stated actions 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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Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Operate the Lighthouse assessment centre for mental health patients attending the emergency department.
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Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Maintain safer staffing levels and a full liaison psychiatry staff complement at St Mary’s Hospital.
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Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Continue recruiting and retaining staff, monitor recruitment and vacancies, and implement supportive initiatives.
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NHS England
Publish and implement the Long-Term Workforce Plan to train, retain and reform the NHS workforce, including growth in psychiatric care staffing.
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NHS England
Increase clinical psychology and child and adolescent psychotherapy training places, with more than 1,000 places annually through 2028/29.
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NHS England
Fund training for approximately 15,000 additional psychological therapists and practitioners over the next three years.
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NHS England
Increase mental health nursing training places by 38%.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
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.
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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.
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.1
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff to increase service capacity.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Trusts are responsible for ensuring safe staffing levels in the current day-to-day operation of their hospitals.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.
Data last updated 7 September 2026