HM Treasury

Chancellor should use spending review to turn tide on mental health, says charity

In commemoration of World Mental Health Day, chancellor Rachel Reeves is being urged to use the upcoming spending review to turn the tide on the country’s deteriorating mental health.

The Centre for Mental Health’s CEO, Andy Bell, pointed to “government inaction” over the last decade as the root cause of the rising levels of distress among the population.

“A million people are waiting for mental health treatment,” he said. “Half of people with a mental illness cannot afford the basics of life, and early mortality rates are now five times higher than average.”

NHS England’s monthly performance update indicates that, at the end of August, 1.94 million people were in contact with mental health services – the vast majority (1.34 million) were adults. The month saw almost 400,000 new referrals.

The mental health charity emphasises that the chancellor must start with prevention. “A cross-government mental health plan and policy test would boost the nation’s mental health by ensuring that policies and decisions benefit people’s mental health and prevent harm,” said Bell.

This is a topic he explored on the latest episode of the National Health Executive podcast, which has been published today.

In a report commissioned by the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network earlier this year, the Centre for Mental Health revealed that mental ill health costs society and the economy around £300bn per year – something Bell described at the time as “like a pandemic happening every year.”

A shift to prevention is a widespread desire across the mental health sector – the Mental Health Foundation, for example, called for the proportion of ICS budgets ringfenced for mental health prevention to be increased by 1% over the next five years.

Bell concluded: “Rebuilding the nation’s mental health will take time. But it cannot wait. We urge the Chancellor to invest in the public’s mental health as a fundamental foundation for a healthier nation and a thriving economy.”

Listen to the latest NHE podcast to hear his full views on the mental health sector and what the future could look like.

Image credit: iStock

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