NHS mental health services will move into community and high-street locations as part of a £343 million expansion across England.

Mental health services will be delivered from libraries, former banks and other community locations under a £343 million expansion of NHS support across England. The government is opening 159 new mental health facilities, with the first sites due to open this autumn.

The plans include 100 community mental health centres offering walk-in support without a referral, alongside 59 mental health emergency departments for people in crisis, located in hospitals.

The government said libraries, banks and other high-street locations could be converted into mental health centres, bringing services closer to where people live.

They are intended to have a “non-clinical appearance”, and mental health teams will work alongside GPs, councils and voluntary organisations. They will also link patients to housing and employment services.

The first centres will open from autumn, with further sites opening from March next year.

The mental health emergency departments will provide same-day specialist support. The aim is for the areas to provide a “calm, therapeutic environment”, where people can be connected to the right care.

The expansion will more than triple the number of mental health emergency departments in England, from 23 to 82.

Biggest redesign in a generation

The government said the investment would help people access support earlier, while reducing pressure on A&E, and described the plans as the “biggest redesign of mental health in a generation”.

Demand for such services has risen sharply, particularly among children and the young, the government said, with around one in five people experiencing a common mental health condition each year.

Health and social care secretary Yvette Cooper said the centres would help people get support “earlier and closer to home”. Prime minister Andy Burnham added that, currently, thousands of people are waiting every day for help, with A&E the only option. The new hubs, he said, will be a “lifeline” for so many.

Andy Bell, chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, welcomed plans for the centres to be integrated into communities. However, he raised concerns about the government developing more mental health emergency departments before the model has been properly tested.

He urged Burnham and Cooper to “proceed with caution”, to ensure the departments are “safe, inclusive and effective”.

The investment must be backed by funding for the health and social care workforce needed to provide effective mental health care, Bell added.