The number of people referred to psychological therapies through the NHS in England during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic fell by 230,000.
According to the latest figures from the NHS, 1.46 million people were referred to talking therapies between April 2020 and March 2021, down 14% from 1.69 million on 2019-20.
Of those referred, 1.02 million accessed the services – down 12.2% from 1.17 million in 2019-20.
Talking therapies offer support for people with conditions such as anxiety and depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic disorders and social phobias.
Treatments can include therapies such as counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and peer support.
Longer treatment needed
The fall in numbers being referred is likely to be concerning given a wide acceptance that the nation’s mental health suffered significantly during lockdowns and the pandemic.
And the impact of this may be seen in people on average needing half a session more to complete their course of treatment, with patients receiving on average 7.5 sessions in 2020-21, up from 6.9.
Encouragingly, 90% of patients referred started treatment within six weeks, up 2.6 percentage points from 87.4% in 2019-20.
And the number of patients completing a course of treatment increased by 4.6% from 606,192 to 634,649.
The figures also showed that 51.4% of patients moved to recovery, up 0.3 percentage points from 51.1% in 2019-20.
