Mental healthcare in England is a national emergency, say hospital bosses

People in the midst of a mental health crisis are spending up to 50 hours in A&E because NHS support for them outside hospitals is so limited, the confederation said. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

Mental healthcare in England has become “a national emergency”, with “overwhelmed” services unable to cope with a big post-Covid surge in people needing help, NHS bosses say.

Care is so stretched that thousands of people undergoing a mental health crisis are having to be admitted every year to acute hospitals, even though they are not set up to deal with them.