Out-of area treatment for mentally ill costs NHS £128m

THE NHS spends £2.5 million a week on treating mental health patients outside their catchment area, with some patients travelling more than 300km for a bed, new analysis has shown.

The figures reveal that in the past year, the NHS has spent more than £128 million on patients who have to be sent hours away from their home because of a lack of hospital beds locally.

The number of out-of-area placements due to bed shortages was up 4 per cent on last year, to 8,400 across England.

Of these, 2,060 lasted between one and three months and 310 lasted more than 91 nights.

Thousands of patients had to travel hundreds of miles away from their home in order to get treatment for conditions such as psychosis, depression or bipolar disorder.

Some 3,350 placements were at least 100km from the patient’s home, 335 of which were at least 300km (190 miles) away – the equivalent of flying from London to Paris.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to spend an extra £11bn on mental health over the next five years to ensure patients can access treatment close to where they live.

Luciana Berger, Lib Dem spokesperson for health, social care and wellbeing, said: “It is totally unacceptable that vulnerable people who are suffering from mental ill health are being sent hundreds of miles across the country, and often at huge expense, instead of being treated near their home and their families.

“The Conservatives have repeatedly said they would eliminate out-of-area placements – and yet there has been an increase this year of the number of patients being treated far away from where they live. This is an abject failure with a real human and financial cost.”