Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department have taken to reduce the time taken from initial presentation of symptoms to diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

We’re set to reach nearly £1 billion of additional funding invested by 2023/24, compared to 2018/19, to transform community mental health services. In 2022/23, 288,000 people with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder, accessed support through new integrated models of community care.

The funding aims to increase access to high quality care and transform care pathways for people with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder, through: greater integration of primary and community services, to provide care in the community driven by the needs of individuals, rather than based solely on diagnoses; physical health checks; and Individual Placement and Support schemes, as well as Early Intervention in Psychosis services.

NHS England is also working on implementing new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including one for adults with bi-polar disorder or similar, to start to receive community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral.