Mental Health Services: Out of Area Treatment

We recognise how important it is that individuals who require mental health inpatient care are treated as close to home as possible.

Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026-27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money. To support this, £75 million has been allocated in 2025-26 to assist systems and National Health Service-led Provider Collaboratives in reducing one or more of the following:out of area placements in acute care or psychiatric intensive care units; Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism inpatient rehabilitation placements far from home; and placements outside natural clinical flow in adult forensic medium and low secure services and children and young people’s inpatient services.

This investment is expected to lead to a reduction of at least 580 placements which are out of area, far from home, or outside natural clinical flow for adult forensic and children and young people’s mental health inpatient services over the next two years. The funding is expected to result in 15 providers being able to end the practice altogether.

Systems have been asked to model the local impact of capital investment on out of area placements activity and spending as part of their submissions to receive capital funding. The figures quoted above are based on the bids recommended for approval and were therefore modelled by the submitting integrated care boards or NHS-led provider collaboratives.