The government has opened a call for evidence to inform a new 10-year mental health plan to put mental and physical health on an equal footing.
The general public, people of all ages with lived experience of mental health conditions and those who support people with mental ill-health are urged to respond to a 12-week call for evidence to inform a new 10-year mental health plan and a refreshed national suicide prevention plan seeking views on what can be improved within the current service, particularly in light of the pandemic which has led to record levels of people seeking treatment.
Around 1 in 5 adults in Britain experienced some form of depression in the first 3 months of 2021, over double pre-pandemic figures. Through the NHS Long Term Plan the government has committed to continue expanding and transforming mental health services and to address the impacts of the pandemic.
Richard Fuller MP said:
I urge people with first-hand experiences to come forward and help shape the new plan. To have your say between now and 5 July, please visit this page.
The government has also made £500 million available to support the groups most impacted, including children and young people and those with severe mental illness through the mental health recovery action plan.
The call for evidence will now build on this progress, adding to the government's understanding of the causes of mental ill-health, listening to people who have interacted with services and those who know and support them, to draw on ‘what works’. This will support the development of a plan which aims to prevent and mitigate the impacts of risk factors on mental health and suicide, particularly for groups who experience disparities.
The 10-year plan builds on the NHS Long Term plan, working towards putting mental health on a level footing with physical health and forms a key part of the commitments to address health disparities across the country and to improve the mental wellbeing of the nation by 2030.
The sooner someone receives support when they are struggling with their mental health, the more likely it is they will recover. The call for evidence seeks views on how the 10-year plan can complement and extend the work of the NHS Long Term Plan to better address how local services can work together, to prevent those at risk from falling into mental ill-health through earlier, targeted help.
The NHS plays an important role in identifying, diagnosing, treating, and supporting people with mental health conditions, and there are also a range of public, private and community services ideally placed to identify people who may be struggling that can offer support or signpost to NHS services. This may include education settings, housing associations, social care, youth centres, workplaces and job centres.
The call for evidence, seeks to build consensus on the priority actions we need to collectively take to reduce the number of people who go on to develop mental health conditions, especially for children and young people and communities at greatest risk. It’s important responses are reflective of society, include those from people of all ages and backgrounds, to ensure future services work for all.
The plan will also look at how initiatives across government including green social prescribing, online harms and Thriving at Work can work together to ensure people’s daily practical, social and emotional needs are being met, as well as how to fully harness the potential of technology and data to support better mental health, and incentivise the private sector to play its part.
Responses from the call for evidence will also inform the development of a separate national suicide prevention plan which will refresh the 2012 plan. Future detail on this plan will be set out in due course.
The questions in the call for evidence have been developed in partnership with stakeholders and people with lived experience of mental ill-health. More detail on each of the questions can be found in a discussion paper also published today alongside the call for evidence.
The government is transforming mental health services in England with an extra £2.3 billion a year. This includes expanding talking therapies to ensure 1.9 million people will be able to access them by the financial year 2023 to 2024, and give an additional 345,000 children access to NHS-funded services or school and college-based support by 2024.
