National survey of older people's community mental health teams in England.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The mental healthcare workforce supporting people with dementia and comorbid mental disorders requires specific skills and knowledge.

Aims

We co-designed and conducted a survey to understand key issues facing community mental healthcare services accessed by older adults.

Method

We invited all English National Health Service (NHS) older people's community mental health teams (OPCMHTs) in England to complete the survey. We compared service structures, resourcing and waiting times between regions, and considered how responses might inform current policy priorities.

Results

A total of 182 out of 242 (75.2%) English NHS OPCMHTs participated. We estimated there were 120 233 referrals to OPCMHT services per year, with 77.5% of services reporting increasing

SUBMITTER: Muralidhar M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12835709 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature