Findings from London's Mental Health': a service in crisis

The King's Fund published its second London Commission in July 1997, and had produced a report 'London's Mental Health' in preparation for this, consisting of the most complete account ever published of the present state of the mental health services. They are found to be in a state of crisis, unable to cope with the very high levels of demand seen in the deprived inner city areas. There are now too few beds in the National Health Service to deal with the number of patients who need to be admitted, and too few residential places in the community to take those ready for discharge. The report considers the reasons for the high demand, and finds London to contain the six most socially deprived districts in the country, the highest unemployment rates, and double the number of persons living in single person accommodation. Emergency care is from the Accident and Emergency Departments, and the complete range of community care is not available anywhere. Remedies for these problems include adjustments to the resource allocation formulae, removal of the difficulties preventing new capital building in the public sector, and removing the divide between health and social services.