My mum used to work in NHS mental health services in the late 90's she used to complain about it then. It ended up being the reason she quit as she didn't agree with releasing mentally ill people in the community to meet a target. The schizophrenic she was looking after stabbed someone and killed himself in jail....even though he was clearly mentally ill and should not have been taken to a prison.

It's been bloated for years and likely continue to be for sometime.