The author of this policy paper is Danny Bowman, Director of Mental Health at Parliament Street
At Parliament Street we have been working hard to understand the effects mental health is having on people, families, public and private sector organisations. Through our most recent research we have identified some concerning findings. Our findings have indicated that the police are dealing with a higher frequency of incidents with the qualifier code ‘mental health’. Some of our most prestigious universities are struggling to support their students’ mental health, and accident and emergency departments across the country are receiving admissions on a regular basis due to mental illness or self-harm. These findings have shown that NHS mental health services are not the only area struggling to cope with the growing issue of mental illness. It is acknowledged widely that mental health costs the United Kingdom economy around £105.2 billion a year, with the human cost calculated at £53.6 billion (Centre for Mental Health, 2010). From our acknowledgement of these finding we wanted to try and get to the root of the problem. Through research into children and adolescent and adult mental health waiting times within the NHS and through comparing other organisations finding we have concluded that one of the roots of the problem is staff shortages. The lack of qualified staff in mental health services arguably means people with mental health issues are waiting longer for treatment, and due to the long wait are seeing their mental health problem become progressively worse.
It is important to acknowledge that more people are speaking up about their mental health difficulties which is an extremely positive step forward, but with more people speaking up, as a society we need to be prepared to acknowledge their courage with better, timely provision in NHS mental health services.
This Policy aims to deliver that, with an economic plan for mental health. The key aim of the policy is to train minds to save minds.
Link to Policy Report: Training Minds to Save Minds
