Quality and performance Thousands waiting 24hrs in A&E with mental illness

One in 10 mental health patients who attended A&E in England last month stayed for more than 24 hours – and this figure rose to more than one in three in some departments, new data suggests. 

For the first time, NHS England has published data on long waits for mental health patients in A&Es.

NHSE labelled the data as “experimental”, because no quality checks were performed after it was received. However, they are the first official figures on the size of this long-standing problem. HSJ has previously reported on internal data.

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Source: HSJ, 14 November 2025