The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP
Expensive Prime Minister,
Pressing clarification wanted on psychological well being ready lists and funding
We’re writing on behalf of seventeen main organisations working to enhance the UK’s psychological well being to specific grave considerations about psychological well being ready lists not being prioritised in your Plan for Change and stories that the federal government could also be planning to axe very important safeguards for psychological well being funding, when regardless of psychological well being companies offering care to extra individuals than ever, the ready checklist is now 1.6 million.[i]
At a time when psychological well being companies are already stretched past capability, accounting for a fifth of the UK’s illness burden whereas receiving lower than 10%[ii] of NHS funding, reversing progress now could be disastrous. Crucially, it might threaten key authorities commitments such because the rollout of a reformed Psychological Well being Act and delivering a shift from hospital to group. It’s essential that your authorities sustains the dedication to the Psychological Well being Funding Normal (MHIS) and ensures psychological well being companies obtain a rising share of the NHS finances to allow them to meet demand.
The MHIS ensures funding for psychological well being, allotted by Built-in Care Boards, retains tempo with general NHS spending. Sustaining this dedication is a needed safeguard to handle the historic underspend in psychological well being companies. This context implies that psychological well being companies have been taking part in catch-up when it comes to having the fitting companies, workforce and knowledge in place to fulfill want, in comparison with bodily well being. Solely a decade in the past, there have been important chasms in our psychological well being provision, no centralised knowledge, and a workforce that had been decimated by way of cuts. Amid a difficult monetary surroundings, spending on psychological well being companies declined from 14% of the finances in 2008 to only 8% of the finances by 2016[iii]. The MHIS, alongside different commitments to make sure development in share of spend, have performed an indispensable function over the previous decade in efforts to handle the care deficit and to progress in the direction of parity of esteem between psychological and bodily well being.
Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless progress to be made, and psychological well being care continues to face distinctive and really critical challenges which might be exacerbated by rising want. These ready the longest for elective group psychological well being look after each adults and kids and younger individuals have waited for 2 years[iv], twice so long as these ready for elective bodily well being care. Rethink Psychological Sickness’ Proper Remedy Proper Time survey[v] discovered most individuals dwelling with a extreme psychological sickness skilled worsening psychological well being whereas ready for therapy, with 42% requiring pressing care and 26% being hospitalised, reversing the shift from hospital to group. Psychological well being sufferers additionally face considerably longer waits in Accident and Emergency departments than these ready for emergency bodily care. Nearly half of kids and younger individuals with a psychological well being want are nonetheless with out assist. Overburdened professionals face burnout, exacerbating workforce shortages and decreasing the standard of care. Psychological well being elective ready lists should not prioritised within the authorities’s Plan for Change however it is a grave error. Any discount in funding or failure to make sure a concentrate on tackling psychological well being ready lists will deepen these systemic points, making it even tougher for weak individuals to entry the care they want.
The potential penalties are deeply regarding. For these dwelling with extreme psychological sickness, akin to schizophrenia, delays in therapy can escalate into acute crises, compromising the well being and security of the person; interfering with their means to interact in schooling and employment and in excessive instances, even probably compromising the security of others. The Proper Remedy, Proper Time report discovered that 25% of individuals whose psychological well being deteriorated whereas ready for therapy tried suicide, highlighting how a scarcity of funding for psychological healthcare can hinder efforts to scale back suicides. And the devastating assaults in Nottingham underscore the dangers when individuals in want of care fall by way of the cracks of an overstretched system.
Past the private tragedies, neglecting psychological well being companies carries immense societal and financial prices. As your authorities’s Get Britain Working white paper illustrated, there’s a sturdy hyperlink between poor psychological well being and financial inactivity. Addressing psychological well being issues is essential for unlocking financial development. Left untreated, psychological sickness may also result in outcomes akin to homelessness and preventable lack of life. Poor psychological well being already prices the UK financial system an estimated £300 billion yearly in misplaced productiveness, welfare dependency, and elevated healthcare spending[vi]. In addition to undermining financial development, deprioritising psychological well being would danger exacerbating these prices, as preventable circumstances escalate into crises that require far costlier interventions.
Somewhat than scaling again, the federal government ought to prioritise strengthening psychological well being companies. Funding in recent times has already delivered tangible advantages akin to: nationwide perinatal companies; early intervention in psychosis persistently delivering towards ready time requirements; growth of consuming dysfunction companies for youngsters and younger individuals; and a rise of round 40,000 further workers.
Investing in and persevering with transformation of community-based care, increasing disaster intervention programmes, and addressing workforce shortages are important to creating a sturdy and responsive psychological well being system. This isn’t solely an ethical crucial but additionally an financial necessity.
We had been delighted to learn within the Labour Manifesto that you just dedicated to “reform the NHS to make sure we give psychological well being the identical consideration and focus as bodily well being”. We urge you to make clear the federal government’s place on psychological well being elective ready lists, the MHIS and Share of Spend and to reaffirm its dedication to attaining parity between psychological and bodily well being care. Safeguarding psychological well being therapy and care is key to constructing a more healthy, safer, and extra resilient society. Something much less would characterize a failure of management and imaginative and prescient.
We stay up for your response and hope to see the federal government’s dedication to psychological well being mirrored in its insurance policies and funding priorities.
Your sincerly,
