Access · United Kingdom
England's mental health watchdog: demand up 15%, complexity rising, capacity strained
The Care Quality Commission's State of Care report finds an average of nearly 454,000 new referrals to secondary mental health services per month.
The CQC's annual State of Care report documents a mental health sector under sustained strain. New referrals to secondary mental health services averaged 453,930 per month in 2024/25 — 15% above 2022/23 — while waiting times for community and inpatient care lengthened in most regions.
The report links delayed access to worse outcomes downstream: more A&E presentations, more compulsory admissions, more interactions with police as first responders. It calls for sustained workforce investment and a tighter feedback loop between primary care and specialist services.
Read the CQC's full mental health chapter for the regional data and case studies.
Mental Hum is a reading list, not a publisher. The summary above is our own editorial framing; the reporting and analysis live at the source.
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