CCGs caught short-changing mental health services

Several Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have been found to have made false claims about how much they have spent on mental health services in the 2018/19 financial year, according to the HSJ.

The information from NHS England and NHS Improvement, seen by the HSJ, shows that in the 2018/19 funding period auditors found that 16 CCGs had falsely claimed that they had spent sufficient on mental health services in their areas and met the targets set under the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS).

The MHIS was put in place in 2015, following years of mental health service funding dragging a long way behind that of physical health services. The MHIS is the requirement for CCGs to increase investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in allocation each year.

Full story in The Lowdown, 21 July 2020