New Horizons
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhsi.2010.0237 |
| Date | 13 May 2010 |
| Published date | 13 May 2010 |
| Pages | 17-19 |
| Author | Simon Lawton‐Smith |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health and Social Inclusion • Volume 14 Issue 2 • May 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd 17
10.5042/mhsi.2010.0237
home treatment teams, assertive outreach services
and early intervention teams.
At the same time, primary care services are still not
adequately meeting the needs of the majority of people
who develop mental health disorders; support for carers
often falls short of what is required, and far too little
has been done in terms of whole population mental
health promotion. This is, perhaps, not surprising, as
data suggests that less than one-tenth of one per cent of
NHS spend on adult mental health goes on mental health
promotion (Department of Health, 2009b).
New Horizons
The government has, rightly, decided that there should
be a new strategy to build on the perceived successes of
the 10-year NSFMH, and to address those areas where
clearly there are still significant problems. This is, in
effect, its New Horizons programme, encapsulated in the
document published in December 2009 (Department of
Health, 2009a).
Happily, the government has accepted that mental
health cannot be seen as just an issue for the NHS. The
New Horizons document is signed by a wide range of
government departments, reflecting a cross-government
commitment to mental health being ‘everyone’s business’.
Alongside the Department of Health, there is the Cabinet
Office, the Office for Disability Issues, the Department
for Children, Schools and Families, the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for
Those of you with long memories may recall the
excitement, even euphoria, when in 1999 the
Department of Health published its National Service
Framework for Mental Health (NSFMH), a 10-year
plan for improving mental health services for adults of
working age in England.
Up to this point, the most common description
attached to mental health services was ‘the Cinderella
Service’. What the NSFMH did was to promote mental
health as one of the NHS’s three clinical priorities,
alongside cancer and heart disease. It got its own
national director, tasked with ensuring the full
implementation of the Framework, a set of targets for
service expansion and improvement, and lots of new
money to fund better, more modern services. Cinderella
could not only afford a new dress, but also a ticket to
the ball.
To partner the NSFMH, the Department of Health
subsequently published the National Service Framework
for Older People (2001) and the National Framework for
Children, Young People and Maternity Services (2004),
both of which had sections on mental health for those
age groups.
The legacy of the NSFMH remains a matter for
debate at the moment. There is a general acceptance
that many services have improved, especially for people
with more severe mental health problems living in the
community and needing high levels of support. Much
of the extra money was directed at crisis resolution and
New Horizons
POLICY
Simon Lawton-Smith
Head of Policy, Mental Health Foundation
Abstract
New Horizons (Department of Health, 2009a) is the government’s cross-departmental strategy building on the
perceived successes of the National Service Framework for Mental Health (Department of Health, 1999) and
addressing those areas where there are still service shortfalls. It aims to improve both the mental health and
well-being of the population, and the quality and accessibility of services for people with poor mental health.
The strategy will face a number of challenges, not least the tight resource restrictions across public services
expected in the next few years. However if New Horizons continues to receive political backing, it does offer a
framework to underpin a radical programme of change.
Key words
Policy; Strategy; Well-being; Promotion; Prevention; Employment
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