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“Brave new vision” of Mental Health Taskforce revealed

“Brave new vision” of Mental Health Taskforce revealed

Mental health looks set for a shake-up as “a brave new vision” has been set out by NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce.

The report, The Five Year Forward View For Mental Health, released today, called for one million extra people to be provided with support for their mental health problem by 2020/21, and was branded by Royal College of Nursing chief executive Janet Davies as a “brave new vision”.

Davies added: “By addressing long standing inequalities, this report offers hope to those who need help early, in order to reduce the risk of later issues.”

The report also revealed that training is lacking, as more than four out of five practice nurses have responsibilities for which they have not been trained, with 42% having no training at all in mental health, according to the Royal College of GPs.

“Primary care staff are not yet fully equipped to provide high quality mental health care,” the report stated.

The report’s recommendations will now require careful implementation and investment “but they are a real opportunity to provide a range of services that will benefit people now and in the future,” Davies said.

The key recommendations are:

  • Too many people from black and minority ethnic communities have problems accessing good quality mental health care and have lost faith in services. The taskforce demands urgent action to ensure that everyone gets the help they need, irrespective of their background or the communities they belong to.
  • People facing a crisis should have access to mental health care 24/7 – right care, right place, and right time.
  • People’s mental and physical health should be treated equally – including people with severe mental health problems, women in the perinatal period, children and young people.
  • All areas of society, such as schools, workplaces and community organisations need to contribute to the promotion of good mental health and prevention of mental health problems – in all areas of people’s lives.

NHS England has welcomed the report and has committed to delivering the recommendations, backed by £1billion of new funding in the annual NHS budget by 2020.

Prime Minister David Cameron commented: “The Taskforce has set out how we can work towards putting mental and physical healthcare on an equal footing and I am committed to making sure that happens.”

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Mental health looks set for a shake-up as “a brave new vision” has been set out by NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce