Policy watch
| Pages | 104-106 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301111165672 |
| Date | 15 August 2011 |
| Published date | 15 August 2011 |
| Author | Simon Lawton‐Smith |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Policy watch
Simon Lawton-Smith
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a quarterly review of recent or forthcoming policy
developments in mental health and social inclusion issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The author describes and comments on the most significant recent
policy developments from within the UK that impact on mental health services and people with mental
health needs.
Findings – The paper finds that the NHS reforms in England could cause some problems for the
implementation of the new English mental health strategy; Northern Ireland and Scotland are both in a
position to develop new mental health frameworks and Wales is implementing new statutory rights for
mental health service users.
Originality/value – This paper summarises some recent policy developments in mental health across
the UK.
Keywords Mental health services, Mental health strategy, Commissioning, Public policy
Paper type General review
You would have had to be living on a differentplanet for the past few months (I am told by an
astronomer friend that there may well be a number of suitable inhabitable planets out there)
not to have caught something of the debate on the proposed NHS reforms in England.
Much passionate discussion has taken place during the ‘‘listening exercise’’ that the
Coalition government called, while it put its Health and Social Care Bill on hold. This is the Bill
that will introduce commissioning from new GP-led clinical consortia and an NHS
Commissioning Board, establish local Health and Wellbeing Boards in every local authority,
allow greater competition in the provision of services between statutory, private and
voluntary sectors and set up a HealthWatch body as the new ‘‘patient voice’’.
For me, a key question is how will these reforms enable the successful implementation of the
government’s recently published mental health strategy (Department of Health, 2011). There
is general agreement that significant improvements to the delivery of mental health care can
be done without any changes to the law – there is a strong evidence base of what works and
there are plenty of examples of good practice available. So are the reforms an opportunity or
a threat for mental health?
Some see an opportunity. Primary Care Trust commissioning of mental health services over
the years has been variable in its quality, and GPs do have a wide experience of treating the
millions of patients across the UK with common mental disorders, such as anxiety and
depression. As a mental health service user wrote to me earlier this year:
GP consortia directly handling commissioning for mental health is a good idea. When a patient
presents to a GP with mental health problems the first option and often only option a GP has is to
prescribe antidepressants, and somewhere down the line refer to a psychiatrist. But it is a very
PAGE 104
j
MENTAL HEALTHAND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 15 NO. 3 2011, pp. 104-106, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/20428301111165672
Simon Lawton-Smith is
Head of Policy at The
Mental Health Foundation,
London, UK.
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