Mental health care and the 12356 hotline in China

Separate 12356, hospital care and public emergency numbers

The National Health Commission established 12356 as the unified number for health-authority-supervised psychological assistance hotlines. The 2025 completion report states that all provincial-level regions had opened the number, but the service remains locally operated. It may provide psychological consultation, support or crisis intervention by telephone; it is not automatically a hospital registration desk, diagnostic service, prescription channel, ambulance dispatcher or police line. Ask which locality answered, what service it can provide and whether it can identify a current local medical route.

The State Council's national reference separately identifies 120 for medical emergency assistance and 110 for police assistance. This guide cannot assess thoughts, symptoms, behaviour, danger, capacity or whether any situation meets an emergency threshold. If a person believes public emergency assistance is needed, use the appropriate public number instead of waiting for this website, an email, a routine appointment or a platform reply. Calling a number does not guarantee language support, response time, destination, admission, confidentiality outcome or cost.

• 12356: locally delivered psychological assistance under the unified national number
• 120: public medical emergency assistance in mainland China
• 110: public-security assistance in mainland China
• Hospital outpatient service: a booked medical or psychological care route
• Institution complaint office: a non-emergency service-process route

This page names official routes but never decides which route a person clinically needs or whether it is safe to wait.

Identify the service type before accepting a handoff

National policy uses several distinct labels: psychiatric or mental-health outpatient services, psychological clinics, psychotherapy services, sleep clinics, child or adolescent services, community services and psychological assistance hotlines. A school counselling office, employee-assistance programme, private consultation business and licensed medical institution can also use similar English words. Ask the referrer to state the Chinese service name, legal institution, physical address, department, appointment method and the document or record the contact is expected to create.

The 2025–2027 service-years action and 2026 social psychological service plan expand mental-health access, but they are development frameworks rather than one national booking system. The 2025 completion report gives national coverage context, not a directory. Confirm the live provider because a listed hospital may use different campuses, age limits, session times or booking routes. A referral suggestion does not guarantee acceptance, an available clinician, English, a bed, a medicine or an insurer arrangement.

• Chinese service and department name
• Legal institution and exact campus
• Outpatient, hotline, school, community or other setting
• Current appointment or contact channel
• Expected record and responsible follow-up owner

Verify the accountable institution and professional role

Use the national medical-institution query to compare a hospital, psychiatric hospital or clinic's Chinese legal name and available licence information with the advertised service. Then contact the institution through its own official channel to confirm the department, campus and current appointment. A registry match is only an identity safeguard. It does not rank clinical quality or prove that the provider accepts a foreign passport, offers English, has current capacity or is suitable for an individual.

If a physician is named, compare the Chinese name and available practice-registration information through the official physician query and reconfirm the assignment with the institution. If the person is described as a psychologist, psychotherapist or counsellor, ask for the exact professional role, employing entity and service setting rather than treating the English title as proof of a medical licence. China's Mental Health Law separates psychological consultation, psychotherapy and psychiatric diagnosis and treatment; the words should not be collapsed into one credential.

Verify the institution and the individual separately, then verify what service the institution authorises that person to provide there.

Prepare a foreign-patient access file

Ask the provider which passport or other identity document its channel accepts, how the patient's name should appear, whether a local telephone number is required and whether first-time registration must be completed onsite. Confirm the exact department, appointment time, arrival instructions, language arrangement, payment method and whether a parent, guardian, companion or interpreter may attend. Do not enter invented identity data or use another person's account when a digital route rejects a passport.

Bring only the records the receiving provider asks for, such as prior visit notes, discharge material, current medicine list, allergy record or provider-issued summaries. Preserve original names, strengths, dates and instructions without translating them into a diagnosis or treatment request. This administrative preparation cannot establish what service is appropriate or whether existing treatment should continue. The receiving qualified team must decide what information is clinically relevant and what further assessment is required.

• Accepted identity document and exact name format
• Hospital, campus, department and appointment confirmation
• Current telephone and emergency contact information
• Language, interpreter and companion arrangement
• Provider-requested prior records and medicine list
• Payment, insurance and receipt questions

Record the handoff from first contact to continuing care

A useful first contact should end with a clear next administrative owner. Record whether the caller was advised to contact a hospital, community institution, school service or another official route; write the Chinese name, telephone number, address, department and any booking reference. Ask whether the first service will send information, whether the patient must carry it and whether separate consent or authorization is required. A verbal suggestion is not a completed appointment or accepted transfer.

Community public-health management for defined serious-mental-disorder populations is a separate local programme under national standards. It is not ordinary outpatient psychiatry and this site cannot decide programme eligibility. Likewise, school support and employer support do not replace medical care or create employer access to a medical record. Keep each service's role, record and confidentiality rules separate, and ask who remains responsible when one service closes its part of the handoff.

A handoff is complete only when the receiving route, responsibility and record transfer are confirmed—not when a telephone number is merely supplied.

Protect records and use the correct problem route

Mental-health information is sensitive health information. Use the verified institution's authorised channel, disclose only what the recipient needs and ask before sending records to a school, employer, insurer, family member or overseas professional. Electronic-record rules require controlled, traceable access, while medical-record rules identify who may request copies and what authority evidence can be required. A hotline note, school file, counsellor note and medical record are not automatically the same document.

For a non-emergency concern about a medical institution's registration, staff identity, privacy, records, charge or handoff, use its published complaint office and preserve dates, names, screenshots, receipts and responses. A complaint does not decide diagnosis, treatment, danger, capacity, involuntary-care legality, professional fault, compensation or refund entitlement. Do not delay an emergency contact or responsible clinical follow-up in order to assemble a complaint file.