21.01.14
New mental health action plan launched
Co-ordinated action is needed to provide mental health care that is equal to physical health care, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has urged.
He said: “All too often, attitudes to mental health are stuck in the dark ages; full of stigma and stereotypes. It’s time for us to bring mental health out of the shadows and to give people with mental health conditions the support they need and deserve.”
The government’s new mental health action plan, Closing the Gap, sets out 25 areas for health services to take action; improving waiting times, children’s mental healthcare, and increasing life expectancy for people with severe mental illness.
From April patients will be able to choose where they receive mental healthcare and from 2015 waiting time standards will begin to be introduced. The Friends and Family test will also be rolled out to cover mental health services.
Talking therapies will be expanded to help 300,000 more people and more support will be developed for children with mental health problems. Pilots for better housing for people with mental health problems or learning disabilities will be funded with £43m.
Clegg added: “Today we’re calling for action – across the NHS, the mental health sector and wider society – to champion change, to transform outdated attitudes and practices and to improve the lives of people with mental health problems.
“We recognise that we’ve got a mountain to climb. But we’re working hard to ensure that the needs of those with mental health problems are considered not just in the NHS, but also across our public sector: with better support in education, employment, the justice sector, housing and elsewhere.
“Ultimately, it’s going to take all of us working together to achieve the change in attitudes to mental health that we need, to create an environment together where it’s okay to talk about mental health.”
Care and minister Norman Lamb said: “We are determined to eliminate the stigma around mental health and drive up standards of care and treatment in the NHS further.
“People leaving child and adolescent mental health services still face a cliff-edge of support when they turn 18. If we want to build a fairer society, we cannot allow this to continue.
“Mental health must have equal importance as physical health – giving patients who are using mental health services the same rights as other patients is a crucial part of this.
“If we are to truly give better care to patients with mental illnesses we need to ensure they are listened to. The Friends and Family Test will give the NHS the chance to hear what is going well and what isn’t in mental health settings and to take action to ensure that services improve.”
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Much progress has been made – with mental health patients getting more community-based care and living in their own homes, but nothing less than true parity of esteem must be our goal.
“We have to challenge the NHS to join up care – to treat the whole person, not just the mental health problem, and make every service as good as the best.”
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive & general secretary of the RCN said: “It’s good news that mental health is moving up the policy agenda, and needs to be taken as seriously as physical health. Mental health services have been coming under increasing pressure in recent months, with higher bed occupancy rates and bigger workloads for a shrinking workforce.
“Acute mental health beds have fallen by nine per cent since April 2011, and we’ve seen services such as crisis intervention, a major part of the 1999 mental health national service framework, cut or reduced after they have done so much to stabilise mental health services over the past decade.
“It’s vital that we see continued investment in mental health so that health professionals are able to deliver quality, specialist care and that improvements made to services over the last ten years aren’t lost.”
Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, chief executive of Turning Point and chair of the NHS England Parity of Esteem Programme Board, who sits on NHE’s editorial board, said: “Closing the Gap’ brings a much needed re-focus to the mental health priorities as outlined in the national strategy, ‘No Health without Mental Health’. The action plan is another step towards addressing the challenges still abundant within the health service for anyone with a mental health issue.
“The lack of parity of esteem that continues to exist for those with mental health issues, compared to people with physical health conditions, is simply unacceptable. Crisis services, especially, need reform to ensure people can access and receive the care they need in a timely and safe way – something not currently guaranteed.
“Words must now urgently translate into tangible actions on the ground if this inequity is to be resolved.”
Jenny Edwards CBE, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation said: “We are encouraged to see that the action plan acknowledges the need to do more, and more quickly, in order to support the 1 in 4 people in this country who experience mental distress.
“We particularly welcome the renewed commitment to introduce minimum waiting times for adult mental health services from 2015, but we urge the Government to establish them for children and young people too – half of all lifetime cases of mental health problems begin before the age of 14.
“The action plan reflects that mental health cannot be addressed through the health service alone, and now it’s essential that all government departments address the urgency of mental health care, and are held accountable to their responsibilities and commitments in the mental health strategy.”
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