Adults with severe mental illnesses are struggling to get support, as ‘core’ mental health services have been left behind by the government’s mental health strategy, according to a report published by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Mental Health.
The inquiry concludes that core services are all but overwhelmed for lack of resource, with growing demand resulting in waits for treatment measured in months rather than weeks and patients travelling the length of the country to ind treatment.
People with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, rely on core services for their treatment. Around 700,000 people in England are receiving help from community mental health teams, a service that provided 14 million care contacts in 2016/17.