Call For Political Parties To Back A 10-Year Plan
In a letter that was hand-delivered to 10 Downing Street on Thursday 20th July, mental health leaders have asked Rishi Sunak to reverse his Government’s decision to scrap the 10-year Mental Health Strategy that was scheduled for publication this year.
The Association is one of over 50 signatories, which include a group of academics, health practitioners, charity bosses and ‘lived experience’ experts, supporting the MQ Mental Health Research letter and calling for action to improve mental health.
Read the full letter here:
Dear Prime Minister
Following our national celebration of the NHS on its 75th birthday, we are here to present a Report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood on Mental Health provision in the UK.
The NHS is not the preserve of any one political persuasion, and this Report is enriched by the help of professionals, academics, practitioners and voluntary sector organisations in the field of Mental Health who have no party-political allegiance. Their sole priority is to make Mental Health services the best they can be for the benefit of those who use them and those who work within the sector. We all believe that this is an ideal time to address one of the biggest threats our nation faces… for the benefit of the UK as a whole.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise in mental illness and the shocking gaps in service provision and research capacity rose to the top of the media agenda. Opinion that ‘the next pandemic will be in mental health’ is now commonplace.
However, as the immediate threat of Covid recedes; thanks in no small part to NHS delivery and the UK impetus behind the vaccine roll-out ‘media noise’ has not translated into affirmative action. Earlier this year, plans for a promised 10 Year Mental Health Strategy were abandoned in favour of Mental Health being ‘lumped in’ alongside a set of physical conditions in a new Major Conditions Strategy.
Far from achieving ‘parity of esteem’ with Physical Health, this reduces the status of Mental Health still further. Just as there are myriad physical diseases, there are multiple complex mental illnesses, deserving of their own comprehensive long term strategy. This was the clear view of over 5,000 individuals and organisations who responded to the Government’s Consultation on wellbeing but unless there is change to a strategy that would actually align with the Government new workforce plan, the Mental Health services will continue to suffer from:
- Serious gaps in the workforce and in training and retention at all levels including people opting to specialise in psychiatry
- Short termism: late in the day clinical solutions preferred over the early and preventative intervention within schools and the community, that have potential to avert lifelong costs to the individual and society over a range of services
- Stigma in all areas of life including employment and disparity in treatment options
- Undue influence of current and future socioeconomic down turn
- An inadequate research base with guaranteed and continued support from the Government to afford patients with a mental illness the benefit of a full range of diagnostic and treatment options.
No time is therefore better to plan for the next stage of NHS progression and that is why the authors of this Report, call for the adoption of a 10 Year Mental Health Plan, incorporating the following evidence-based recommendations:
- Prioritising prevention and increasing public awareness
- Facilitating early intervention and timely access to services
- Promoting integrated, holistic services and addressing health inequalities
- Guaranteeing sustainable funding for research, mental health services and workforce development
- Growing the workforce and capacity building
- Partnership working and dynamic collaboration.
In the NHS’s 75th year, we should all work together to bring Mental Health services and those who need them out of the shadows and into the light where all will benefit to the advantage of each family, each community and the wider society of which we are a part.
Signed by,
Lea Milligan
CEO, MQ Mental Health Research
Chris Martin
CEO, The Mix
Julie Bentley,
CEO of Samaritans
Andy Bell
Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health
Brian Dow
Deputy Chief Executive, Mental Health UK
Kathy Roberts
Chief Executive, Association of Mental Health Providers
Dr Laura Ajram
Chief Executive, British Neuroscience Association
Professor Kamaldeep Bhui CBE
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
Professor Peter B. Jones
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
Professor Andrew McIntosh
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh
Professor Rory O’Connor
Director of Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab, University of Glasgow
Dr Elaine Lockhart
Chair, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Peter Hand
Royal College Psychiatrists
Professor Helen L. Fisher
Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, and ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King’s College London
Emeritus Professor Fraser Brown PhD
Childhood Development and Playwork Team, Leeds Beckett University
Professor Keith Godfrey
Professor of Epidemiology & Human Development, University of Southampton
Dr Julie Pearson
Senior Lecturer, St Mary’s University and owner of Inclusive Primary PE
Sharon White OBE
CEO School and Public Health Nurses Association
Dr Jackie Musgrave
Early Childhood at the Open University
Laurence Guinness
Chief Executive, The Childhood Trust
Emma Bayou
CEO, Miindfulness CIC
Joe Lowther
CEO, KICK
Saeed Atcha MBE DL
CEO, Youth Leads UK
Michael Folllett
Director, OPAL CIC
Dr Ian Cunningham
Chair of Governors, Self Managed Learning College
Professor Chris Pascal
Director, Centre for Research in Early Childhood
Karen Cooke
Programme Leader, Childhood and Youth Studies, UCEN Manchester
Jane Deamer
Development Manager, The Crysalys Foundation
Alicia Drummond
Teen Tips & The Wellbeing Hub for Schools
Mrs Arike Disu (Aiyetigbo)
Director, Fountain Montessori Pre-school Limited
Kate Day, Director
KRD Training
Dr Amanda Norman
Programme Lead Childhood Studies, The University of Winchester
Anna Hodgson
CEO, Clear Sky Children’s Charity
Liz Emerson
Co-Founder, Intergenerational Foundation
Liz Stockley,
Chief Executive, British Dietetic Association
Dr Vicky Randall,
Senior Fellow, University of Winchester
Lorna Lewis,
Board member, British Council for Therapeutic Interventions with Children
Dr Estelle Mackay
Independent Public Health Nutritionist
Jean Barlow, Founder
Jean Barlow Training Solutions
Dr Aric Sigman
Health Education Lecturer
Jyles Robillard-Day
CEO, National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society
Dr Sarah Williams
Principal Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University
Viki Veale
Senior Lecturer, St. Mary’s University
Dr William Bird MBE GP
CEO Intelligent Health
Sophia O’Neil
Research Writer, Play Therapy UK
Dr Julie Wharton SFHEA
Senior Lecturer, University of Winchester
Caroline Wright
Director of Early Childhood, Bright Horizons.
Nicki Morley
Managing Director, SENTRAL Villages
Peter George
CEO, Enigma Wellness
Mark Hardy
Chair, Association of Play Industries (API)