Waiting for wellness

Healthwatch Lancashire heard an increased amount of feedback, including Mark's story (see Appendix 1) about mental health during 2022/23. Particularly, the long waiting lists people are experiencing when accessing mental health support. 

It was important that this feedback was considered and in response, a project was designed and conducted to explore people’s experiences of mental health in Lancashire. There was a particular focus on the waiting times of those accessing mental health support and whether people were aware of other support in the community whilst on a waiting list. 

Another aim of the project was to gather feedback from people who have not accessed support for their mental health; to investigate their reasons for this and whether they would know how to access support should they need it in the future. 

Analysis of feedback has informed recommendations for the attention of the NHS and other relevant stakeholders. The aim is for mental health support to become more readily available for Lancashire residents as well as improving local knowledge about what mental health support is on offer.

A variety of methods were used in this project including a survey, focus group and one to one 'case studies'. In total there were 156 respondents.

There are recommendations in this report. The recommendations are included with a response from the provider and focus on:

• Barriers to accessing NHS support for mental health identified.
• Females were found to be more likely to approach NHS mental health services than males. Males preferred charitable or community organisations.
• A need for better signposting and information on local support for mental health.

There are follow up actions in this report.

The report will be presented locally for comment and further work on young people and mental health is planned.