Specialist care vital but focus must now be on mental health promotion

25 June 2008

In response to the Care Service’s Minister Ivan Lewis’s announcement of improvements in key mental health services, Simon Lawton-Smith, Head of Policy at the Mental Health Foundation said:

“While improvements in specialist mental healthcare are necessary and are to be welcomed, it is worth noting that for many years the government has been promising a shift in focus towards promoting the mental health of the wider population. 

It’s disappointing to note therefore that spending on mental health promotion has dropped dramatically in the last few years.  The government’s stated aspiration to improve the mental health of the wider community* will remain a pipedream unless it begins to treat mental health promotion seriously, and with the kind of financial commitment it currently reserves for tackling physical health problems such as smoking.”

• Read Ivan Lewis’s statement

Notes to editors

• *In 2004, the government’s report on the National Service Framework for Mental Health, Five Years On, stated that: “We are entering a new phase in which the emphasis will move on from specialist mental health care, crucial though that will remain, to the mental health and well-being of the community as a whole.”

• Government investment in mental health prevention and promotion work is about one-tenth of 1% of total mental health direct service investment for adults of working age (p.7, The 2006 / 07 National Survey of Investment in Mental Health Services, Mental Health Strategies)

• Investment in access and crisis services increased from £171 million in 2001/02 to £411 million in 2006/07 – in the same period spending on mental health promotion has dropped from £6 million to £2 million (p. 7, The 2006 / 07 National Survey of Investment in Mental Health Services, Mental Health Strategies)

For further information, please contact the press office team on 020 7803 1130/28/26.
 
The Mental Health Foundation uses research and practical projects to help people survive, recover from and prevent mental health problems. We work to influence policy, including government at the highest levels. And we use our knowledge to raise awareness and to help tackle the stigma attached to mental illness.  We reach millions of people every year through our media work, information booklets and online services.

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