Mental Health Crisis in A&E Underscores Urgent Need for Community-Led Support
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) recently invited Sky News health correspondent Ashish Joshi to report from King George Hospital’s A&E, where staff, patients and families shared the challenges of accessing timely, appropriate mental health care in emergency settings.
BHRUT report an increase in mental health patients attending A&E over recent years. In April alone, nearly 400 people presented at the Trust’s emergency departments in crisis, 236 of them at King George Hospital. The average wait they faced for appropriate care was 19 hours.
Individuals in crisis are increasingly turning to A&E as their first and only resort. Emergency departments are not designed to provide specialist mental health support, and staff face daily challenges in maintaining a safe and supportive environment within busy, overstimulating, and often crowded settings - conditions that can intensify distress for patients and those around them.
Commenting on the reporting, Health Secretary and Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said:
“There’s far too many people turning up in busy, noisy, crowded A&E departments not because they needed to be in A&E but because the support they needed, the right care in the right place, wasn’t available at the right time and that’s particularly true for mental health patients.”
These challenges reinforce the urgent need to invest in support embedded in the heart of local communities. Gita Malhotra, Chair of Healthwatch Redbridge, highlighted that while appropriate crisis services are essential, the system must not rely on A&E as the main route to mental health care:
"The growing pressure on emergency departments in Redbridge, including the A&E department at King George, reinforces the urgent need to properly examine how we support the mental health needs of our communities in a sustainable and whole system way.
Emergency care should be an absolute last resort for those experiencing mental health crises, rather than the only port of call that those in crisis can think to contact or attend.
This requires collective action. Embedding more mental health support within our communities, be that in GP practices, social care or charity settings, and addressing the environments that exacerbate mental ill health, means that people can get the help they need long before reaching crisis point.”
Working to embed mental health skills within local services, Healthwatch Redbridge is on track to deliver Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to over 100 participants in 2025. Trainees include representatives from community and voluntary organisations, council services, and NHS staff and volunteers working across North East London.
Mental Health First Aid is an internationally recognised training course, designed by MHFA England, and teaches people how to identify, understand, and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue on a first-aid basis.
Equipping people who are already working in high-contact roles with the tools to listen, signpost and support early on, mental health training is a vital tool in fostering compassionate, supportive communities.
“Investing in accessible local services and building resilience through community-based prevention strategies will not only reduce pressure on emergency departments but also ensure people receive the right care at the right time,” Malhotra said.
“The demand and take-up of our Mental Health First Aider training highlights there is clearly an appetite to develop and strengthen skills in this field to support prevention and early intervention that can contribute to helping people before they get to an acute crisis."
