THE LATEST survey of community mental healthcare suggests that patients’ experiences of these services across England have not improved and have even declined slightly in key areas.

Although nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents nationally to the Care Quality Commission’s new survey rated their experiences of community mental healthcare as ‘seven or above’ out of ten, this is not an improvement on the most recent results from 2014 (65%).

More than 12,100 people took part in this year’s survey, which covered their experiences of being cared outside of hospital by community-based mental health services, such as specialist clinics or at home.

The results reveal that while 71% of respondents reported that they knew who to contact when they experienced a mental health crisis out of hours, fewer were satisfied with the quality of care and support that they feel they are receiving when they do make contact.

More than a quarter of respondents said they did not feel they got the help they needed from crisis care, compared to 21% in 2014.

More than 68% of respondents felt listened to by their healthcare or social workers but this was down from 73% in 2014.

Also, whilst 61% of respondents answered ‘yes, definitely’ to whether they felt they had enough time to discuss their needs and treatment, this was down from 65% in 2014.

However, the CQC noted that experiences seemed to vary across different population groups, particularly around overall care, respect and dignity, involvement, access and communication.

It said there was a general trend that respondents aged 50 and above reported more positive experiences. Also, there was a marked trend that the longer a person is in contact with mental health services, the worse the experience reported.

Now the CQC have released the results to providers to review patients' experiences to help improve services.

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Dr Paul Lelliott, the lead for mental health at the CQC, said that while it was good that two thirds of people in contact with community mental health services were satisfied overall: "This still means that one in three people did not rate their experience so highly. It is disappointing that the results do not show improvements year-to-year."