Tuesday 16 February 2016

Forget about a mental health revolution without new cash

Forget about a mental health revolution without new cash David Cameron’s promised £1bn is old money so can’t be ringfenced – and will be swallowed by existing NHS debts.

If it’s Monday, the prime minister is doing something good and kind, according to the Downing Street grid: last week it was prisons, this week it’s a mental health “revolution”. Announcing £1bn for threadbare mental health services, he launched a report detailing their dire state.

Written by the head of Mind, this hard-hitting report was widely welcomed, as was the £1bn. One in four people suffer mental health problems but three-quarters get no help at all. Suicide rates are rising, as is self-harming, with services so bad that lives are “put on hold or ruined” for lack of care, with mental health patients dying 15 to 20 years earlier than others. Beds are so scarce that 2,000 acutely ill patients a month end up sent far from homeContinue reading... The Guardian

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