Government plans to reform
‘outdated' laws with a ‘21st Century' Mental Health Act have
been welcomed by NHS trust leaders.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive, NHS Providers,
said:
“It's great to see long-awaited steps being taken to
modernise mental health laws and focus on improving mental
health services.
“As well as Mental Health Act reform much more is needed to make
sure that people everywhere can get high-quality mental health
services when they need help.
“Almost two million people – many more than in the pandemic –
were in contact with NHS mental health services in August 2024
and demand keeps growing.
“We must improve mental health provision, especially for children
and young people, and ensure that mental health gets as much
attention as physical health – as well as focus on
tackling race inequality and the care deficit for
people with a learning disability and autistic
people to ensure that everyone is treated in the right place
at the right time with dignity and respect.
“Lord Darzi's review of the NHS highlights that there has been a
surge, particularly among children and young people, in mental
health needs, a fundamental problem in distribution of
resources between mental and physical health services and
that long waits have become ‘normalised'.
“Stretched NHS mental health services are under pressure like
never before with record demand continuing to far outstrip
capacity but trust leaders and their teams continue to pull out
all the stops to see as many people as quickly as possible.
“Trusts are really worried about the amount of unmet need out
there. NHS mental health services need more resources and staff
to improve
how and where people access high-quality care. It's vital too
that wider public services such as councils and schools get the
funding they require to make sure that people of all ages and
backgrounds get the wider care and support they need.”
