Increased investment in mental health welcomed

Peter Kinderman

A “genuine psychosocial alternative” could result from the major mental illness funding announcement made this week by Government, says Professor Peter Kinderman.

Professor Peter Kinderman, Head of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, welcomed Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s pledge to pump £650m into the NHS to ensure parity between mental and physical health waiting times.

Professor Kinderman said: “I strongly welcome the Government’s announcement for increased investment in mental health; the explicit commitment to parity of expectations for people needing help to address mental health problems in comparison to physical health problems; and the announcement of waiting list targets for mental health.

“All this is excellent news, and will be welcomed by everybody in mental health.  We do need to recognise that not only does the NHS generally deserve greater investment, this need is even more significant in the case of mental health, where underfunding has been serious and long-standing.”

Better access to care

Speaking at his party’s conference, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg committed Government to the five year Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services plan, which will see maximum waiting times for access to mental health services introduced by 2020.

Specifically, this would deliver a two week maximum waiting time by 2016 for 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis, with a pledge to increase this percentage from 2017.
New standards introduced from 2015/16 will also aim to ensure 75% with common mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety, will be referred to talking therapies within six weeks, and 95% will start within 18 weeks.

Professor Peter Kinderman, who has just published a book called, A Prescription for Psychiatry: Why We Need a Whole New Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing, “particularly welcomed” the emphasis on non-medical intervention.

Professor Kinderman said: “Personally, I particularly welcome the fact that the announcement is clearly linked to the provision of evidence-based psychological care.

“We know that such psychological interventions, even for very serious mental health problems, are effective and hugely in demand from people who deserve an alternative to drug-based approaches.

“I hope that we will soon see appropriate levels of investment in training for mental health professions in these fantastic approaches, and the necessary changes to services to make a genuine psychosocial alternative a reality.”

The announcement also included a pledge to extend the commitment on targets related to the care for people experiencing psychosis in the next Parliament, from 2015.

Profesor Kinderman

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