Response to Government Plans to Offer Job Coach Visits in Mental Health Hospitals
Job coaches could visit mental health patients when they are in hospital to help them get back to work, the government has said.
Trials of employment advisers giving CV and interview advice in hospitals produced “dramatic results”, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the BBC, in a bid to shrink the UK’s disability and incapacity benefits bill.
But at what cost?
Mental health hospitals are places of care and support where people with severe mental illness experiencing crisis can seek urgent treatment and recover.
We know that good employment can be beneficial for people’s mental health but only when they are well enough to do so and would be keen to see the evidence and results of the trials, which this wider rollout plans are based on. NHS data shows that many people admitted to a mental health inpatient setting are acutely unwell and this approach could worsen their mental health. We would argue that hospitals are not the appropriate environment for job coaches, and this is better reserved for when people have been discharged into the community.
Serious mental health conditions can include severe episodes of depression, psychosis, mania, or severe anxiety which cannot always be safely managed in outpatient or community settings. In these cases, the priority should only be to offer care and support to improve a person’s mental health and wellbeing and help them recover.
NHS England estimates that during 2023 to 2024, 92,119 of people known to be in contact with secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services spent time in hospital as part of being in contact with these services. In that same period, 62,497 adults and older adults were acutely admitted to hospital with or without prior contact.
The best thing we can do for people experiencing a mental health crisis is to offer appropriate and timely support for them.
Following recovery, people may seek advice to help them find employment and we know that the VCSE mental health sector offers many services that can support this. The sector is a crucial part of the mental health system providing support to over 8 million people in England and Wales and takes a holistic approach in its services. It is essential the Government and the NHS works closely with the VCSE mental health provider sector to ensure that those needing support are receiving it in a safe and timely manner.