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Mental health patients left in ‘Victorian-era cells’ infested with vermin, Darzi report finds

THE Darzi report on the NHS which exposes the nation’s mental health crisis is “disturbing, shameful, but ultimately unsurprising,” campaigners have said.

The report found earlier this week that a lack of investment in crumbling infrastructure left mental health patients accommodated in “rooms that were constructed for a Victorian asylum.”

It detailed how 20 men had to share just two showers, and reports of mice and cockroach infestations. 

The report found issues with fund distribution, with mental health accounting for more than 20 per cent of disease burden but less than 10 per cent of NHS expenditure

Over 500,000 children and young people are in limbo on waiting lists.

Some 345,000 people are waiting for over a year for first contact with mental health services.

Mind chief executive Dr Sarah Hughes said that the report should mark a turning point, and urged the government to pass the Mental Health Bill to modernise current legislation and drive for change.

She said: “People with mental health problems deserve better than derelict wards, racial inequalities and coercive treatment. It is time to end this needless trauma and deliver a new deal for mental health.”

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