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Our services are not joined up

In Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, community-based mental health services are not joined up, are hard to access and have long waiting lists. Some services are not available at all.

People wanting mental health support in an urgent or emergency situation often end up in the emergency department as they don't know where else to turn.   

Service users have told us that they want services to be joined up and provided locally. They do not want to be ‘bounced’ around services and wait a long time to be transferred from service or team to another. 

Staff have told us that they feel overwhelmed by their high caseloads. The way support requests is handled is historic and based on structures and team boundaries, rather than on people's needs.

In Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, we under-perform against many national and local mental health standards. Regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission, say our waiting times are too long and we have been slow to introduce modern ways of joining up our mental health services.