Our latest research, shows that in 2021/22, the total number of days lost to poor mental health has doubled to more than 730,000 over the last decade. This comes at the same time that there has been a drop in the number of neighbourhood police officers by 6,000 and of Police Community Support Officers by 8,500.
These absences equate to over 2,000 police officers being off sick each day, last year alone, due to poor mental health. It is clear that this Conservative Government has presided over 13 years of neglect and staff shortages that have left our public services at breaking point. The next Labour Government will recruit 8,500 more mental health professionals, ensuring a million more patients get treated each year; and we will rebuild neighbourhood policing, delivering a package of 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers and PCSOs, putting police back on the beat. Read the full story here Our exclusive data reveals that children in a mental health crisis spent more than 900,000 hours in A&E in England, last year. The total delays across England, in the past year alone, equate to 103 years of waiting time. This is a huge rise, up four-fold in the last decade.
The figures, made public through Freedom of Information requests, show the staggering number of hours that children have spent in a mental health crisis in Emergency Departments. With nowhere to turn, children with a mental illness are left to deteriorate – at which time A&E is the only place left for them to go. Emergency Departments are incredibly unsuitable settings for children in crisis, yet we’re witnessing increasingly younger children having to present to A&E in desperation. The next Labour Government will prioritise a truly preventative plan for mental health services and will put patient care first. We will ensure access to mental health professionals in every school and put an open access hub in every community, in addition to guaranteeing mental health treatment within a month for all who need it, by recruiting 8,500 new mental health staff to treat a million additional patients a year by Labour’s first term in office., funded by closing tax loopholes. Read the full article here For Children's Mental Health Week, I've written for LabourList about Labour's bold, transformative plan to deliver mental health care for children and young people. With children waiting days in A&E in a mental health crisis and more than one million people being turned away from mental health services without being seen, it is vital that we transform care by putting prevention at the heart of our plan.
This Government should not cut corners when it comes to young people’s mental health. Good mental health starts in childhood. Labour’s vision for future generations is one where mental health conditions are treated early. Adverse childhood experiences are the greatest driver of mental illness in adulthood – it’s just common sense to get mental health treatment right for young people in order to transform the future of the country’s mental health. The next Labour Government will ensure access to a mental health professional in every school, and we will put an open access mental health hub in every community. Every child should have the ability to raise concerns about their mental health with someone they trust, in an environment in which they feel safe. All of this will be funded by ending tax breaks for private schools. Read my full article here Today, the Committee's Report on the Draft Mental Health Bill has been published - this is a once in a generation opportunity to improve the rights of patients experiencing a mental health crisis and to tackle the health inequalities enshrined in current legislation.
Over the last six months, I've been proud to work with my committee colleagues, listening to patient voices and evidence from experts. We heard heartbreaking accounts from patients. Above all else, the legislation has to protect them and ensure they receiving appropriate care. For years, the Government kicked updating this legislation into the long grass, and now, the current draft bill still does not go far enough to tackle the racial disparity of those detained under the Mental Health Act. Patient voices must be at the heart of this legislation. Read the full report here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt5803/jtselect/jtmentalhealth/696/report.html Today, Justin Madders MP and I met with the Retail trade union Usdaw and a group of retail workers in Westminster to talk about how the cost-of-living crisis, rising violence and abuse in stores, and the impact of Christmas holiday trade is affecting the mental health of customers and colleagues.
Far too many people are facing this Christmas period worried about how to provide for their families. With so many Usdaw members having their mental health impacted as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and increased levels of abuse in the workplace, it is deeply important that we, as politicians, take the time to listen. An undercover joint investigation by Sky News and The Independent has raised serious concerns about the safety of patients at inpatient settings ran by the Huntercombe Group.
This is the third investigation into abuse in secure inpatient mental health settings, in four weeks. The system is broken. I previously wrote to Therese Coffey, the previous Health Secretary, to raise my concerns about other similar investigations highlighting allegations of abuse, by Channel 4 Dispatches and BBC Panorama, but did not receive a response. The Government has been silent over these allegations and for weeks there wasn’t even a functioning Mental Health Minister. Patients, and their families, deserve answers. They deserve dignity, respect and access to high quality treatment, which is why I have called for a rapid review into mental health services and the way patients are treated in inpatient settings. See my statement in Parliament here: https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1587420289662492672?s=20&t=Gj2YhL3GB3Os4nSrRoGK7Q There is a crisis in our universities up and down the country, with record numbers of students now seeking mental health support, according to our latest research. Through Freedom of Information requests, we found that over 200,000 students sought support for their mental health across the UK in 2020-2021 – a threefold increase, since 2010. The lack of mental health support for our young people is not only affecting their health, but it also having a knock-on impact on their future prospects.
Universities are struggling to cope with the rising demand for access to the mental health treatment students need. Every five days, a student takes their own life. That is why Labour has put forward a comprehensive plan, that will put prevention of the heart of mental health services. Under Labour’s plan, we will recruit 8,500 new mental health professionals by the end of our first term in office, to see an addition one million patients per year. See more about the crisis in mental health at universities, here: https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1579388728153604098?s=20&t=CcG6Wxm1iHr6xo0Cfsjyww Parents arriving in A&E with ashen faces holding their children, whose bodies are skeletal and covered in cuts. Families are on suicide watch. Frontline NHS workers are at breaking point. This is the reality of Tory Britain in 2022.
Our latest research has shown that more than a million patients referred to mental health services were turned away over the last 12 months, whilst the cost of mental illness to the British economy is £117 billion a year. This is the direct result of 12 years of Conservative mismanagement of our economy and public services. We need a growing economy to pay for modern, preventative sustainable healthcare, but we can only do this with a Labour Government that will put our public services back on track. The next Labour Government will transform our mental health services: new staff, new services, faster treatment, and prevention as our watchword. Better mental health for all. Read my latest piece in the Daily Mirror here. https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1579113927438663681?s=20&t=FTZA6bYs6BUjLJ-vVYAmzg Labour will revolutionise mental health treatment – putting prevention front and centre.
If ever there was an argument that prevention is better than cure, it is with mental health. We know that the longer mental illnesses are left untreated, the harder and more costly they are to treat. This mental health crisis is wrecking the British economy. Last year, 18 million work days were lost to mental illness - more than industrial disputes, more than injuries. It costs the UK economy at least £117 billion a year. And who does the cost-of-living crisis hit the hardest? Those already living with mental illnesses. The next Labour Government will guarantee treatment within a month, recruit 8,500 new staff, put a specialist in every school and a hub in every community. Labour will transform our mental health services: New staff. New services. Faster treatment. Prevention as our watchword. Better mental health for all. Watch my full speech here: https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1575177559943581696?s=20&t=wn3hxvRyskYM3JmyFl3dlg It was great to visit Mount Carmel Rehabilitation centre again recently. I’ve enjoyed working with this fantastic organisation over the last few years. Mount Carmel offers residential and day programmes to people struggling with addictions. Their Counsellors provide a series of programmes, including a range of talking therapy groups, art therapy and equine therapy, to help people overcome their addiction issues. The pandemic has left Mount Carmel more stretched than ever, with many people seeking help after relapsing or struggling with new addiction problems during the lockdowns. Despite the increased demand, the team at Mount Carmel continue to provide first class care to all their clients. I look forward to continuing to work with the team at Mount Carmel, and seeing all that they go on to achieve. If you would like to support the work they do in our community, you can donate to their Just Giving page below |
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