New specialist facilities at St George’s, Croydon University and Kingston hospitals will give people in mental health crisis faster access to appropriate care away from busy A&E
Four hospitals across South West London are set to receive dedicated Mental Health Emergency Departments following a £1.9 million investment, giving people experiencing acute mental health crises a calmer, specialist alternative to standard emergency department environments.
The funding covers St George’s Hospital, Croydon University Hospital, and Kingston Hospital, working in partnership with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust as part of a coordinated South West London health system response to rising demand for urgent mental health care.
Why This Investment Is Needed
Demand for urgent mental health care in emergency settings has increased significantly in recent years, with growing numbers of people attending A&E departments during periods of acute psychological distress rather than physical injury.
The clinical problem is straightforward but serious: standard emergency departments are designed and staffed primarily for physical medical emergencies. The environment — busy, noisy, brightly lit, and fast-moving — is frequently counterproductive for someone experiencing a mental health crisis, potentially worsening distress rather than providing relief.
Mat Shaw, Chief Executive of St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals, highlighted the scale of the challenge directly, noting that on some occasions up to half of all patients in their emergency departments are not there for physical injuries but because they are in mental health crisis. He described a stressful A&E environment as the wrong place for people in that situation.
The consequence of this mismatch is that people in mental health crisis often face long waits in environments poorly suited to their needs, delaying access to appropriate specialist assessment and potentially deepening the crisis they arrived in.
What the New Departments Will Provide
The dedicated Mental Health Emergency Departments funded by this investment will operate as distinct spaces within existing hospital emergency departments — separate from the main A&E environment but integrated within the hospital site.
Key features of the new facilities will include:
- Specialist mental health professionals available to assess and support patients on arrival, rather than patients waiting to be triaged through general emergency pathways
- Calmer, more therapeutic environments designed specifically around mental health needs rather than physical emergency treatment
- Earlier specialist assessment reducing the time between arrival and appropriate clinical response
- Coordinated care pathways connecting patients to the right next step — whether that is inpatient admission, community mental health support, or help at home — more efficiently than standard A&E processes allow
The model reflects a growing clinical consensus that mental health crisis care requires its own dedicated infrastructure rather than being accommodated within physical emergency medicine settings as an afterthought.
The South West London Partnership
The project brings together several major health organisations across South West London in a coordinated approach rather than individual hospital-by-hospital implementation.
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust is the lead mental health organisation in the partnership, providing specialist clinical expertise and leadership for the programme.
St George’s Hospital — one of the UK’s major teaching hospitals, based in Tooting — serves a large and diverse south London population and handles significant emergency department volume.
Croydon University Hospital serves one of London’s largest and most densely populated outer London boroughs, where mental health need is significant and access to community mental health services has historically been under pressure.
Kingston Hospital serves the Kingston upon Thames, Richmond, and Merton areas of South West London, providing emergency care for a combined population of several hundred thousand residents.
The partnership approach means clinical learning, pathway design, and service standards can be developed collaboratively across all four sites rather than in isolation, improving consistency of care for patients across the wider South West London area.
The Scale of Mental Health Crisis Demand in London
South West London’s investment sits within a broader pattern of rising mental health emergency demand across the capital. Nationally, mental health presentations at emergency departments have increased substantially over the past decade, with the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, cost of living crisis, and housing instability contributing to sustained elevated demand that has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
London’s particular combination of high population density, housing pressure, financial stress, and inequality creates conditions in which mental health difficulties are more likely to escalate to crisis point before adequate community support is accessed. This pattern is reflected in data showing London consistently accounting for a disproportionate share of national mental health emergency presentations relative to population.
The dedicated Mental Health Emergency Department model being implemented across South West London is part of a wider national NHS programme. As reported separately, NHS teams across London are working toward opening or upgrading 23 Mental Health Neighbourhood Centres alongside 10 Mental Health Emergency Departments citywide — of which the South West London sites form a part.
What This Means for South West London Residents
For residents in the South West London catchment area — covering boroughs including Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond, and Croydon — the new facilities represent a meaningful improvement in what happens when someone reaches crisis point and attends an emergency department.
Rather than waiting in a general A&E environment for a mental health assessment that may be significantly delayed, patients will be able to access a dedicated space with specialist staff available from the point of arrival.
Vanessa Ford, Chief Executive of South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, described the investment as an important step forward, saying dedicated mental health emergency departments enable earlier specialist assessment and help ensure people receive the right care in the right place at the right time. She added that the funding puts the partnership in a strong position to continue improving crisis care across South West London.
Crisis Support Available Now
While the new departments are being developed, South West London residents experiencing a mental health crisis can access support through the following routes:
- South West London 24/7 mental health crisis line: 0800 028 8000 (free, available around the clock)
- NHS 111: Select the mental health option for urgent guidance
- Samaritans: 116 123 (free, 24 hours)
- Crisis text line: Text SHOUT to 85258
- GP surgery: For non-emergency referral to community mental health services
Anyone in immediate danger should call 999 or attend their nearest emergency department.
