England’s leading mental health organisations have joined forces to produce a manifesto laying out what the next Government must do to improve the lives of people with mental health problems.
A Manifesto for Better Mental Health has been written jointly by Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Network and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
The manifesto sets out straightforward, practical changes that a future Government could make in order to ensure mental and physical health are valued equally.
Poor mental health carries an economic and social cost of £105 billion annually in England and business loses £26 billion due to mental ill health every year.
The Manifesto sets out five key priorities for action:
- Fair funding for mental health - Commit to real terms increases in funding for mental health services for both adults and children in each year of the next Parliament.
- Give children a good start in life - Ensure all women have access to mental health support during and after pregnancy. Raise awareness of mental health by putting it on the national curriculum and training teachers and school nurses. Invest in parenting programmes across England.
- Improve physical health care for people with mental health problems - Ensure Government targets for smoking reduction apply equally to people with mental health problems. Create a national strategy to stop people with mental illness dying early, due to preventable physical health problems.
- Improve the lives of people with mental health problems – Continue to fund the Time to Change anti stigma campaign. Offer integrated health and employment support to people with mental health conditions who are out of work.
- Better access to mental health services – Introduce maximum waiting times for mental health care and support, including psychological therapies. Commit to continued improvements in mental health crisis care, including liaison psychiatry services in all hospitals. Continue to fund liaison and diversion mental health services, working with police and the courts.
A Manifesto for Better Mental Health is available at
http://www.mind.org.uk/media/1113989/a-manifesto-for-better-mental-health.pdf