Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Mental Health Minister, commenting on the BBC’s research into delayed discharges from mental health units, said:

“It is a scandal that some patients are waiting years to be discharged, despite being medically fit for discharge.

“Under the Tories, mental health services have come under increasing pressure due to underfunding and staffing shortages, and also the lack of integrated working.

“It is unacceptable that patients are stuck in mental health units for such long periods waiting to be discharged despite being fit to leave. The delay puts their recovery at risk and means that other people who urgently need to access mental health services are not able to get the treatment they need. It should never be the case that such extended delays are caused by wrangling between different health bodies over funding.

“Labour would invest more in mental health to ease the pressures and we would ring-fence mental health spending so that funding for mental health is not used to fill holes elsewhere in NHS budgets.”