Integrating mental health and supported housing services across England has the potential to save the NHS more than £1billion, according to a new report. 

The report, commissioned by housing and support services provider, Look Ahead, outlines that if integrated mental health and supported housing systems currently used in parts of London and the South East were implemented across the rest of the country, approximately £950mi could be saved by the NHS.  

The document has received the backing of both Conservative MP and member of the Health and Social Care Committee, Paul Bristow, and Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Mental Health, Baroness Claire Tyler.

Bristow said: “Reform of social care cannot be kicked further down the road. 

“As we emerge from the pandemic, the need for mental health services will grow and the coming months offer an opportunity for reform every bit as profound as the creation of the NHS in 1948.

“Building on the proposals in this report, the Government must put in place reforms which can command support across the political spectrum, ensuring they stand the test of time. “

The report comes just weeks after the Government released a new white paper, Integration and innovation: Working together to improve health and social care for all, which aims to bring health and care services closer together and build a system that is ‘fit for the future’.

Baroness Tyler said: “Most people think of the elderly when it comes to care, but many other younger people and their families are affected too including those with learning difficulties, mental health problems, and the homeless.

“We urgently need a national strategy for social care and long-term funding which works for everyone.”

The report, written by economics consultancy, Europe Economics, found that the integrated mental health and supported housing models used by 167 individuals supported by Look Ahead Care and Support produced £5m a year in cashable savings and non-cash releasing efficiencies compared to hospital-based mental healthcare.

These models include the integration of Crisis and Recovery Houses (a short-term community-based alternative to inpatient psychiatric treatment); Rehabilitation services (accommodation-based services providing medium or short-term support to develop mental health stability and daily living skills); and Forensic Step-Down for people to return safely from secure inpatient settings into the community.

A recent analysis by The King’s Fund found that in 2018/19, the total expenditure on social care by councils was £22.2billion.

And, in October 2020, the Health and Social Care Select Committee published a report urging the Government to spend at least £7billion more on social care by 2023-24.

Chris Hampson, chief executive of Look Ahead Care and Support, said: “It is already widely acknowledged in government policy that integrated services lead to improved physical and mental health outcomes for individuals.

“We are pleased to launch this report, which we believe provides the missing piece of the jigsaw that is the financial case for scaling up these models in mental health services. 

“We need to use this evidence to make the case for the integrated approach and scale it up. 

“It makes sense, not just for the public purse, but for the quality of life of people accessing these services.”