Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the mental health support needs of survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire; and what additional resources have been provided to fund this support.

Mental health support for people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire has been co-ordinated by West London Clinical Commissioning Group and Central and North West London (CNWL) Foundation Trust.

Since August a proactive ‘screen and treat’ programme has been underway to support individuals in the local area potentially affected by the fire. Latest data provided by West London Clinical Commissioning Group details that 767 adults identified as having an urgent need have been screened to date. The programme will reach up to 23,000 people in the area who may have a need for treatment.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have commissioned Cruse Bereavement Support to provide support to bereaved families.

There are currently 357 adults in treatment for mental health conditions and 38 adults have completed treatment. In addition 162 children and young people have been referred into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to date. Local children’s services are also conducting screening and treatment. At present there are 51 children receiving specialist care, and 22 of these children have completed their treatment.

Information on waiting times for these services is not collected centrally.

Emotional support is being provided by Hestia, a well-established local care provider. Hestia is providing outreach and intervention capacity to support to those in need of emotional support. This provision includes a wide range of drop-in support, psychological first aid, counselling and support groups which can be accessed by anyone in the local community. At night Hestia are based in a number of hotels with the most Grenfell residents and will contact CNWL if more significant needs are identified.

Mental health support by the National Health Service is being funded from existing budgets. Future NHS funding for Grenfell mental health support will have to be met from local budgets. NHS England will need to consider budget allocation to CNWL in light of the additional demands on services post Grenfell.

The Chancellor indicated in the Budget statement of 22 November that the Government will provide £28 million for Kensington and Chelsea council to provide counselling services and mental health support for victims of the Grenfell fire and for regeneration of surrounding area.