Boost for Mental Health

Good news today as the Coalition Government published its new mental health strategy No health without mental health. It was refreshing to the Deputy Prime Minister say that mental health is going to be placed on a par with physical health under the new Government's health policy.

From the official press release:

"The No health without mental health Strategy outlines how a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention will help tackle the underlying causes of mental ill-health. It sets out how the Government will work with the NHS, local government and the third sector to help people recover and challenge stigma."

This launch follows Lib Dem Health Minister Paul Burstow's public commitment last December to make psychological therapies available to more people on the NHS. Psychological or so-called talking therapies include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Counselling for Depression, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy.As I said before are lucky enough in Reading to be one of the first areas to pilot an NHS Talking Therapies service which has gone to helped many local people cope with mental health problems and return to work. Last June ministers visited the Shinfield-based Service and give it the official seal of approval.
The Government has announced that £400 million pounds will be invested in NHS talking therapies services to make them more accessible to more people. The pilots have shown that more needs to be done to make services accessible to older people in particular.The strategy commits to beginning to expand provision of psychological therapies to children and young people, older people, people with long-term physical health problems, those with medically unexplained symptoms and those with serious mental illness.
With an estimated one in four people expected to suffer from mental health problems in their lifetime it is vitally important that effective mental health services are readily available to all.
As I noted in December:

"[Improving access to psychological therapies]This was a key plank of the Lib Dem general election manifesto in 2010 and included in the Coalition Agreement signed by Lib Dems and Conservatives."

I have arranged a visit to our local Talking Therapies service and I have also written to officers challenging them about how they plan to make local services more accessible to local peole so more people can benefit.

 

In addition to taking therapies the Government is committed to doing a whole range of things to imrove mental health care and services:

1. launch the Health Visitors Implementation plan following our announcement last October for 4,200 additional health visitors;
2. through the Early Intervention Grant bring together funding (£2.2bn in 2011-12) for early intervention and preventative services for children, young people and families, which can also be used for Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS). Local authorities will have greater freedom and flexibility to put in place programmes that can reduce conduct disorder, improve family relationships and reduce costs to social care, youth justice, education and health systems. 
3. provide an extra investment of up to £7.2 million to ensure the best treatment possible for veterans with mental health problems; 
4. ensure that by 2014 people in contact with the criminal justice system will have improved access to mental health services – as outlined in the Ministry of Justice Green Paper Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders; 
5. work in partnership with the Time to Change programme to challenge stigma and discrimination;  
6. establish community budgets in 16 local areas for families with complex needs (including mental health problems) as part of a national campaign to turn around the lives of families with multiple problems;
7. ensure that all psychological therapy sites have an employment co-ordinator who will work with Jobcentre Plus offices, employers and occupational health schemes to help people get back into work;
8. launch a consultation to extend to all employees the right to request flexible working, which will help carers of people with mental health problems to manage their caring role alongside work; and
9. publish a new cross-Government suicide prevention strategy in the spring of 2011.

All good stuff. Fingers crossed this programme of action will help thousands of people who are struggling with mental health problems in our area.

Government will deliver on commitment to extend "Talking Therapies"

On Monday, in a speech Lib Dem Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced plans to make psychological therapies available to more people suffering mental health problems via the NHS. This is very welcome news indeed - particularly when we know that one in six people are likely to suffer from a mental illness and an estimated one in four people out of work claiming incapacity benefit are experiencing mental health problems. In his speech, Paul Burstow referred to his recent visit to an innovative "Talking Therapies" service at Shinfield Health Centre, within our local PCT area, Berkshire West, earlier this year .

Mr Burstow said:

"I had the pleasure of meeting some of your professional colleagues at a centre in Reading a few months ago.

I spoke to the service users, learnt about how these therapies had changed their lives, transformed their confidence, their outlook, their aspirations for the future.
There was a time when diagnosis of a mental health problem was the end as far as work goes. IAPT is changing that. Everyone I met there had had their lives turned round by the services they received.
One lady had suffered a serious physical illness and had to leave her job. Going in and out of hospital, and then being stuck at home, she became depressed and withdrawn.
And so when she’d recovered her physical health, she was paralysed with fear and anxiety and couldn’t return to work.
Therapy made all the difference. She regained her confidence, she eased herself back to work, she got back to her normal self.'

We are very lucky in Reading to have such an innovative service so close by.  And the results achieved for patients at the Shinfield Health Centre speak for themselves.  The Berkshire West plan was by March 2011 to get 106 people off benefits and back to work (either returning from sickness or into new employment). The service has surpassed this plan and, to date, has enabled 140 to move off sick pay and benefits since January 2009.  Leaving aside the benefits to them financially the benefits to their quality of life is hard to quantify but even more important.

The service has also exceeded planned numbers of people entering therapy and puts Berkshire West Talking Therapies among the top national IAPT services.
Last December, as the then Chair of the Reading's Health Scrutiny Panel I requested a report on this innovative programme being carried out in our area. The Panel noted that, as well as the obvious benefits to patients’ health and wellbeing, the service could also have benefits to the economy if it kept people in work. We recommended that the programme (which was being piloted by the then Labour government) be continued and extended.

I'm delighted that nationally the services being carried out by health professionals in the Reading area are being recognised and am hopeful they will be extended to enable more local people to benefit from them.

So what will the government do now to ensure this excellent work continues and more people benefit? Back to Paul Burstow's speech:

"First, we need to complete the existing training programme.


Two-thirds of the country already covered.


By the end of this financial year, 3,700 newly trained staff will be on board.


We will then go much further.

The funding we’re releasing from the Spending Review will mean that by 2015, every patient in the country should be able to get timely access to proven psychological therapies.
And, wherever possible, they should have real choice of approved therapies.
At the moment, IAPT is a little too much like Henry Ford’s business philosophy … you can have any therapy as long as it’s CBT.
To be fair, it wasn’t a bad model to get us on the road. But we do need to diversify. To open the door for other, equally effective therapies to help people with different needs.
So we’ll invest the money and work with the local NHS to upskill staff across four other NICE-approved therapies:-
- In counselling
- interpersonal therapy
- brief dynamic therapy; and
- couples therapy
Something the last government promised 12 months ago. We’ll actually deliver it."

You can read Paul Burstow's excellent speech in full here.

The government's strategy on mental health is expected in coming weeks. I am very encouraged by other public comments Paul Burstow has made on this issue so far which suggests that treating poor mental health will finally be seen as important as tackling other forms of ill-health.
As I blogged in April I am fully commited to doing everything I can to campaign for more support for people with mental health problems in Reading. This was a key plank of the Lib Dem general election manifesto in 2010 and included in the Coalition Agreement signed by Lib Dems and Conservatives.
I am very pleased to see the Coalition Government sticking to promises it has made in this regard and putting it's money where it's mouth is in relation to mental health.

Backing the Rethink campaign in Reading West

As Chair of the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel since 2008 I have worked hard to ensure that mental health services are regularly on our agenda to try and inject much needed local accountability into our services here in Reading. Most recently we scrutinised the effectiveness of so-called 'Talking Therapies' which are having a really positive impact on people. The Lib Dems are committed to extending access to counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy to more people. In this picture I'm pictured with Paul Farmer ,Coley resident, who has been campaigning tirelessly for a better deal for patients for many years - a lot longer than I have.You may have seen his letters in the Evening Post. Paul has written to me many times to raise issues about mental health services and I have done my best to respond to his concerns. One of his major concerns has been the treatment of minors in adult wards in Prospect Park Hospital - something that we pressed officers from the Trust about several times in scrutiny. When I met him on Friday he told me about his latest campaign - highlighting the number of young people who are still receiving Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) this is a concern and I will be investigating it further with health officers. It is estimated one in three people suffer from depression at some point in their lives and one in four people are affected by mental health problems. This is a lot of people in Reading West constituency. I am signed up to Rethink's General Election 2010 campaign which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues. We need people like Paul to campaign for thousands of people who use mental health services in Reading each year. I have pledged to to continue to champion mental health in the next Parliament if I am elected the next MP for Reading West.