To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) the number of individuals who have been transferred for treatment and accommodation to psychiatric intensive care units and acute mental health wards in Great Britain; (ii) the associated cost per individual; and (iii) the source of funding for such transfers, in the last five years, broken down by Health and Social Care Trust.

In responding to this question, it is important to note that acute mental health care refers to short-term inpatient assessment, treatment and stabilisation for individuals experiencing a severe mental health episode requiring hospital admission. Northern Ireland has local provision of both acute mental health wards and Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs), and therefore patients are not transferred to Great Britain for routine acute mental health inpatient care.

Transfers through the Extra Contractual Referral (ECR) process are considered only where a patient requires access to a highly specialised mental health assessment, treatment or care pathway that is not available within Northern Ireland. Such referrals are distinct from acute inpatient care and relate to specialist services that cannot be provided locally.

Accordingly, there are no individuals transferred to Great Britain for treatment and accommodation in acute mental health wards or PICUs. Any mental health-related ECRs approved for treatment in Great Britain are for highly specialised services unavailable within Northern Ireland and should not be regarded as transfers for acute mental health care.