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NHS Confederation - Mental health must receive more of the NHS budget, says Mental Health Network
Sean Duggan, chief executive of the Mental Health Network, which is part of the NHS Confederation, responded to the Prime Minister’s speech outlining a long-term funding plan for the NHS
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to the NHS as her number 1 priority and within that the emphasis on improving mental health.
“She has challenged those who work inside the NHS to come up with ideas about how the long-term plan for the NHS should look, and we will continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Care through the Mental Health Policy Group, to ensure that MHN member views are fed into the long-term plan.
“Research commissioned by the NHS Confederation found current mental health spending would likely need to double to take the number of people with mental health problems receiving NHS treatment from 40 per cent to 70 per cent.
“While the mental health sector has been a beneficiary of one-off funding increases for the NHS over the past five years, acute trusts have seen bigger benefits with their incomes growing nearly three times as fast as mental health trusts.
“To have true parity of esteem, the mental health sector must be given a bigger proportion of the NHS budget and we hope this will be realised in the details of the funding settlement.
“We must ensure that any extra funding received is targeted in the areas that will see the biggest benefit for patients – and we wholeheartedly agree with Paul Farmer’s calls for a focus on increasing the mental health workforce, addressing health inequalities, boosting prevention strategies and supporting recovery through employment and stable housing.”
