Policy watch: implementing the mental health strategy
| Pages | 164-168 |
| Published date | 23 November 2012 |
| Date | 23 November 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301211281005 |
| Author | Sophie Corlett |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Policy watch: implementing the mental
health strategy
Sophie Corlett
Abstract
Purpose – The Policy Watch series reflects on recent and forthcoming developments in mental health
policy across the UK. This paper aims to review recent developments in mental health policy including
the mental health implementation framework, draft Mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board, and
proposals on shared decision making and integration of social and health care.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews and summarizes recent developments in
national mental health policy in England and their implications for mental health service provision.
Findings – The paper outlines several developments which contribute towards the realisation of the
mental health strategy, No Health Without Mental Health.
Originality/value – The paper updates and discusses knowledge on recent and forthcoming mental
health policy initiatives and cites recent evidence from Mind.
Keywords Mental health policy, No Health Without Mental Health, Mental health services,
Commissioning, NHS Commissioning Board Mandate, Public policy, Mental illness, United Kingdom
Paper type Viewpoint
No health without mental health? The mental health strategy 18 months on
No Health Without Mental Health (Department of Health, 2011), the Coalition Government’s
mental health strategy, was launched in February 2011, building on the previous
government’s New Horizons strategy (Department of Health, 2009). It made positive
commitments around parity of esteem between physical and mental health, championed
prevention and promotion, and committed to widen access to talking therapies and tackle
stigma. Importantly, the strategy,like its predecessor, was an HM Government document: it
recognised that mental health is everyone’s business – that the deter minantsof good mental
wellbeing lie in early family life, in education and housing, in experience of crime and
community.
But strategies, however well designed and well intentioned, do not in themselves effect
change. So how have things in the policy world progressed?
The last 18 months have been challenging times for health and social care in England.
Unprecedented reorganization and significant budget cuts have taken their toll on services
and staff morale. This has inevitably had an impact on service users and many people with
mental health problems have seen the services they rely on disappear or have found
themselves excluded from them as eligibility criteria are narrowed.
And this comes at a time of increased demand for mental health services. Mind (2012b)
has seen a surge in demand for its helplines, with calls to its InfoLine and Legal line up
18 and 28 per cent, respectively, between October and April 2011-2012 as compared the
year before.
PAGE 164
j
MENTAL HEALTHAND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 16 NO. 4 2012, pp. 164-168, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/20428301211281005
Sophie Corlett is based at
Mind, Stratford, UK.
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