'Good progress' on mental health

'Good progress' on mental health

Improvements in mental health services in England have cut suicide rates to the lowest yet, says a report.

BBC News Online December 20, 2004

The record drop was accompanied by increased staffing numbers and greater patient satisfaction, the National Director for Mental Health found.

Professor Louis Appleby's report is on the first five years of the government's 10-year NHS reform plan.

But he said further improvements were needed, a caution echoed by mental health charities.

Improvements

The government set a target to reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury by at least a fifth by the year 2010, from a baseline rate of 9.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 1995-7 to 7.4 deaths per 100,000 population in 2009-11.

The latest suicide monitoring data, for the period 2001-3, show a reduction of 6% from the 1995-7 baseline, and a larger fall since the peak in 1998-2000.

Professor Appleby predicts that if the current downward trend continues, the 2010 target will be met.

There is also more mental health staff.

Between 1999 and 2003, the number of consultant psychiatrists (whole-time equivalents) went up by 25%, while mental health nurses rose by 13% and clinical psychologists by 42%.

But Professor Appleby said vacancy rates remained a concern - the most recent figures show a vacancy rates of 11% for consultant psychiatrist posts and 3% for nursing posts.

Louis Appleby said: "My update report is a record of progress and achievement that I believe is unprecedented in the history of NHS mental health care.

"Although services have become increasingly responsive to the needs and wishes of the people who use them, more changes are needed.

"We now need to plan the next five years in a way that re-casts our NSF in line with the direction that the NHS as a whole is taking - towards patient choice, the care of long-term conditions, and improved access to services."

He announced ﾣ30 million funding for general psychiatric intensive care units, and health minister Rosie Winterton announced an extra ﾣ30million capital funding for psychiatric intensive care units.

Mixed picture

Richard Brook, chief executive of Mind, said: "Undeniable headway has been made in the last five years and the government can take due credit for that.

"However much more remains to be done - particularly around positive mental health promotion and access to services."

Mind surveyed 416 current or recent mental health in-patients about their hospital care experiences in September.

Over a quarter (27%) said they rarely felt safe while in hospital. This figure increased to 46% for non-white British respondents.

Only one in five people felt that they were treated with respect and dignity by hospital staff.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said: "We have yet to see significant change in the lives of the majority of the thousand people who call us each week.

"While suicide rates have been marginally reduced, there has been an increase in self-harm.

"While new teams - assertive outreach, early intervention and home treatment - sound progressive, in reality they are limited in whom they can take on their books.

"We would like to ask what funds will be made available for long-term treatment and rehabilitation for those whose needs cannot be met mainly in the community - still the black hole in the care of those with enduring mental illness."

Rethink chief executive Cliff Prior said: "Funding, access to services, stigma and social inclusion are all areas of major concern."

Shadow Health Minister Tim Loughton said: "Blair's government is still failing to address the ticking time bomb of mental illness, particularly among young people."

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, said ministers needed to tackle the "run down facilities and staff shortages which are holding mental health services back".

Source: BBC News Online

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Last Updated on 12/27/04 webmaster@namiscc.org

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