From Rethink site...Report by CQC

The latest report by the Care Quality Commission on the state of healthcare and adult social care, published today, shows that the standards of care for people with mental illness are patchy at best, and neglectful at worst, says charity, Rethink Mental Illness.

Despite people with mental illness being at greater risk of physical health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke, more than a third had not received enough support for their physical health needs and 27 per cent said they had, but only ‘to some extent’.

Despite regular reviews of medication being an indicator of good care, one fifth (19 per cent) had not been asked or couldn’t remember being asked about their medicine for 12 months or longer.

Rethink Mental Illness chief executive, Paul Jenkins, said: “Some of the figures in the CQC report make for grim reading. People with serious mental illness are among the most vulnerable in society and they are not getting the quality of care they need and deserve.

“With increasing numbers of people with mental illness receiving support in the community, access to crisis support is essential. Only just over half of the survey respondents (56 per cent) had an out-of-hours telephone number they could call despite the fact that of those people who did have a number, more than a third had called it in the last 12 months. It is vital that people have the support and help they need to avoid someone’s mental health deteriorating to the point of crisis,” he said.

Rethink Mental Illness is also concerned about people detained under the Mental Health Act. Its concerns about inadequate staffing and over crowded wards - only 21 per cent of the acute wards visited met the recommended 85 per cent bed occupancy – are reinforced by this report.

“We have also long been concerned about people on control orders, whose rights are deprived simply because they are ill and have called on Government to review the whole system. The report shows that the rate of new CTO’s averages nearly 370 a month – way ahead of initial estimates and we welcome the CQC’s further study of these,” says Paul Jenkins.

“It is heartening to see that the majority of people using community mental health services are positive about their contact with staff and this is certainly our own experience. However, what this report clearly shows there is an urgent need for action to drive up standards of care across the board and to ensure that the quality of mental health care is not the luck of the geographical draw,” said Paul Jenkins.


For more information, or to set up an interview please call Elaine Calvert, media relations manager, at Rethink on 020 7840 3132.