Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minster, responding to reports that a lack of mental health beds is leaving patients in B&Bs or travelling across the country, said: 

“These figures reveal a mental health service suffering from repeated Government budget cuts. 

“Under David Cameron, wards are operating beyond safe occupancy levels and patients are turned away. When they most need support, vulnerable people shouldn’t be sent hundreds of miles from home in search of a bed. It’s very distressing for them and their families. 

“Ministers must ensure that mental health services are accessible. They claim to support parity of esteem between mental and physical health, but patients are being badly let down. It shows why David Cameron cannot be trusted with the NHS. 

"Labour’s vision for a national health and care service has mental health at its heart, not relegated to the fringes.”