England is in the midst of a mental health crisis as ambulance wait times balloon

1.8 million – that’s how many hours Ambulance crews in England are spending every year assisting mental health patients.

That’s the equivalent of 75,000 days.

Labour says the lack of help for people experiencing mental ill health is adding to the strain on the already stretched ambulance service.

The NHS data also shows the number of emergency calls ambulance services get relating to mental health issues is rising every year.

England’s 10 regional ambulance services received over 524,000 such calls in 2018, with this number increasing to 652,000 in 2021-22 – a rise of 24 per cent.

Overall, 1.2 million people are currently waiting to receive care and treatment from the UK’s community mental health services.

Meanwhile, ambulance services are under so much pressure that people in a mental health crisis are waiting almost two and a half hours before a crew turns up. #trending #featured