The Department of Health has published its priorities and plans for mental health so that services providing poor care are identified faster and action can be taken to help them improve.
As part of its plan, the Department of Health has identified some areas of our work that will help people have confidence in the mental health services they use.
Our inspections of mental health services
We are developing the way we inspect and regulate mental health services which means patients’ opinions and experiences will play a bigger part in what we do.
The new inspection programme will help us to identify poor services faster and allow us to respond and help improve the quality of care. We will also rate services and make greater use of Experts by Experience and professional experts during inspections.
You can find out more about our plans in the document below.
A fresh start for the regulation and inspection of mental health services
Reviewing emergency mental health care
We are also carrying out a review of emergency mental health care which will look at places of safety.
This review will:
- look at a service’s response to a person experiencing a mental health crisis.
- look at how different organisations and agencies work together.
- analyse and inspect the inequalities and outcomes for particular groups of people.
Visit Review of mental health crisis care for more information.
Find out more
Download Priorities for change in mental health care and support to read the Department of Health’s full plan.
Find out more
For more information about the Department of Health's plan, download Priorities for change in mental health care and support.