Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of beds at psychiatric inpatient units.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we need to focus treatment away from hospital and inpatient care and improve community and crisis services. Through our 10-Year Health Plan we will make sure more mental health care is delivered in the community, close to people’s homes, through new models of care and support, so that fewer people need to go into hospital.

NHS England has already begun piloting this innovative model of mental health care for people with serious mental health needs through six neighbourhood adult mental health centres that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and which bring together community, crisis, and inpatient care.

Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026/27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money.