Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of mental health crisis care units on reducing pressure on accident and emergency departments.

The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the impact of mental health crisis care units on reducing pressure on accident and emergency departments.

The Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat made it clear that a wide range of agencies and services, including hospital emergency departments, should be involved in the development of local plans to ensure that people experiencing a mental health crisis have access to urgent and emergency care.

We are making £247 million available to make sure that every emergency department has a liaison mental health team in place, and that by 2020 at least half of England’s acute hospitals will have these services available at a standard defined by the Royal College of Psychiatrists as ‘Core 24’, meaning that clinical support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

NHS England published guidance last year on Achieving Better Access to 24/7 Urgent and Emergency Mental Health Care, which sets out that liaison mental health teams will play a vital role in ensuring that people experiencing a mental health crisis will have access to appropriate care to meet their needs.