Scandal of healthy mental health patients trapped in hospitals for years

Mental health patients have been left languishing in hospitals for years due to a chronic shortage in community care, as the number of people trapped on wards hits a record high, The Independent can reveal.

Analysis shows 3,213 patients were stuck on units for more than three months last year, including 325 children kept in adult units. Of those a “deeply concerning” number have been deemed well enough to leave but have nowhere to go.

One of these cases was Ben Craig, 31, who says he was left “scarred” after being stranded on a ward for two years – despite being fit enough to leave – because two councils fought over who should pay for his supported housing.

He missed his daughter's birth and didn’t meet her until she was 18 months old while waiting to be discharged, which only exacerbated his depression.

He told The Independent: “I was promised I was going to be moving on, but it just seemed like it went on forever.”

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive for NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, told The Independent mental health patients stuck in hospitals were experiencing “personal distress” and getting ill again while they wait.

She called on the government to put mental health on an “equal foot” to physical care and said not doing so suggested the government was content not to treat all patients equally.

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Source: The Independent, 27 November 2023