According to an article over on the Guardian, mental health services are being ignored by the NHS.

The Healthcare Commission reported in its annual review that the NHS is performing better than ever. However not all waiting times are measured: the report ignored the lack of access to areas of care in mental health, with some referrals for psychological ‘talking’ therapies taking up to two years.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has been recommending psychological therapies for people with a range of mental illnesses for years, however according to Rethink, 68% of people with schizophrenia are not getting this treatment.

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According to a recent article in the Guardian, mentally ill children are still receiving inappropriate treatment on adult wards. The children’s commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, led a study that found only 15% of NHS trusts are treating children on appropriate wards, and warned that “much still needs to be done to ensure young people placed on adult wards have the appropriate level of care and support they need.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Spending on mental health services increased by 31%, or £1.2bn, in the past five years, allowing the NHS to invest in the services and staff needed to transform mental health provision. This has included a commitment that, by November this year, no under-16 will be treated on an adult psychiatric ward and that by April 2010 all under-18s will be treated in an age-appropriate environment in hospital.”

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