NHS Activity Tracker: January 2026

Mental health and learning disability sector

There were 461,625 new referrals to mental health services. This is shown in Figure 6.
There were 2.26 million open referrals to mental health services, the highest November on record and 41% above November 2019.
In the 12 months to October 2025, 856,806 CYP accessed mental health services, the highest figure on record and a 4.7% increase compared to the year ending November 2024.

2.09 million people were in contact with mental health services, at the end of November. The majority (1.39 million) were in contact with adult mental health services.
There were 2.28 million care contacts attended in November. This figure is very slightly lower than November last year (<1% less) and 23.8% higher than November 2019, before the pandemic.

201,586 CYP had a first contact with NHS funded mental health services, compared with 202,850 in the same period in 2024.
The number of children and young people still waiting for a first contact from community mental health services was 353,586 in the three months to November, compared with 288,862 in the same period in 2024.
The median wait times for CYP still waiting was 304 days, compared with 276 in the same period in 2024.
For adults with serious mental illness, 129,589 received their second contact with services in the three-month period to November, compared with 128,768 for the same period last year.
184,819 adults with serious mental illness were still waiting for their second contact from community mental health services in the three months to November, compared with 222,236 for the same period last year.
The median wait time for a second contact since referral for adults with serious mental illness was 63 days, compared with 83 days for the same period last year.

At the end of November 2025, there were 367 inappropriate OAPs in adult acute beds compared with 4534 in November 2024.