Healthcare Commission: We need more community care

Community services for the one in six people suffering from mental health problems must improve nationwide, the Healthcare Commission has argued.

Chief executive Anna Walker said: "The majority of people who suffer from mental illness receive their treatment in their own community, not in hospital. They want to remain in the community and this helps them get better."

However, she stressed that if care in the community was to help mentally ill people recover, more access was needed to talking therapies and out-of-hours crisis care.

"Mental health crises don't keep office hours and the service must be flexible enough to tackle this," she added.

"This review shows us where in the country the strengths and weaknesses lie. We will be working with the weak performers to improve quality of their services and bring them in line with those who are excellent."