Community Mental Health Services: MPs hold first evidence session and hear from people with lived experience
The Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry on Community Mental Health Services gets underway next week with a first evidence session exploring patients’ experiences of accessing services.
Meeting details
In the first half of the session, MPs will hear directly from three people with lived experience, asking them about their journey of accessing and being supported by community mental health services.
The Committee will ask them to share their views on what high-quality care and support looks like and what they think are the strengths and the weaknesses of current community mental health services.
At 10.15, MPs will question a second panel of witnesses, from charities and patient organisations, on how far the needs of people with severe mental illness (SMI) are being met.
The Committee will want to understand what patients need from services, and whether there is a clear picture of the level of demand for community mental health services.
The session will also see MPs examine the situation described as the "severity gap" experienced by people with SMI, when a person’s needs fall between primary and secondary care.