NHS Long Term Plan distracts from mental health services
The NHS Long Term Plan, also known as the NHS 10-Year Plan is a document published today by NHS England, which sets out its priorities for healthcare over the next 10 years and shows how the NHS funding settlement will be used.
Responding to the NHS long-term plan, published today, Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of SANE, says:
“Whilst we welcome the new plans, they should not distract from the shocking state into which mental health services have been allowed to descend. The government has already conceded it will take at least a generation for new plans to make any real difference to the lives of those struggling to get the help they need.
“We have lost almost half the psychiatric beds in England since 2000. Until we see proposals to restore local beds for those in crisis or with severe and relapsing mental illness, people will continue to be discharged early or refused admission, and avoidable tragedies and loss of life will continue.
“We have to ensure the new money announced is properly ring-fenced, and does not go towards prevention at the expense of providing care and treatment for those with long-term mental illnesses, who are becoming side-lined in an increasingly fragmented system.”
