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In today’s Guardian, I reveal the scandal of new mothers being turned away from mental health services.
For some time, I’ve been concerned that new mothers are being left to suffer in silence. My figures show that last year, nearly 20,000 new mothers were turned away from mental health services. Maternal mental health services are being rationed. This is despite maternal illness costing the whole of society £8.1 billion a year. It is an absolute scandal. The 8,500 new staff Labour will recruit are vital to solving this crisis. Read the full article here The Tories have scrapped the Mental Health Act - failing thousands of patients.
Labour must seize the opportunity to modernise mental health legislation, with the Joint Committee's recommendations in mind. Read my piece in New Statesman here.
Today, the Government have scrapped their pledge to reform the Mental Health Act.
More than six years of reports, campaigning and hard work has gone down the drain. Last year, I sat on the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill. There was overwhelming cross-party support for reforming the Act. To this day, the Government has failed to respond to the committee's recommendations. Earlier this year, the Conservatives scrapped their own 10-year mental health plan. Dither, delay and failure is on form with the Tories' approach to tackling the crisis in mental health services. Black people are five times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. The Tories have scrapped a once in a generation opportunity to tackle this burning injustice. Last month, I challenged the Health Minister to commit to reforming the Mental Health Act, her response was less than insightful. It is disappointing that the Tories continue to bury their heads in the sand and neglect mental health services. They are out of ideas and it's costing patients their lives. Only Labour can provide the transformation needed to improve services.
The Government is dragging its feet on reforming mental health services – it's costing people their lives.
I asked the Minister if she will keep her promise to reform the Mental Health Act - there was no answer. This is a Government out of ideas. We need a General Election now.
Police forces across England are set to stop attending many incidents concerning mental health under a new National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person.
The Government's announcement leaves far too many questions unanswered and fails to tackle the root problem of lengthy NHS waiting lists in mental health services. I have written to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, asking him to come clean on what action he is taking to tackle mental health waiting lists. Read my full letter here:
All too often, children are stuck on long waiting lists for mental health treatment and thousands of people are having their referrals closed before an appointment.
This Tory Government caused the crisis in mental health services - when will they fix it?
For Pride month, Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, and I brought together mental health and LGBT+ organisations to discuss the challenges facing the mental health of LGBT+ people.
Joining Billy Bragg’s ‘Left Field’ stage at Glastonbury, I spoke about the importance of protecting our NHS. It’s crucial that NHS staff are supported in their work and that patients can access timely treatment.
Today, I proudly led Labour's opposition debate on mental health and put forward our plan to transform mental health services across the country. It includes more staff, specialists in schools, hubs in communities, treatment within a month. Today, I called on the Health Secretary to get his act together on our failing mental health services. Across mental health services, children are being failed, police are spending hours waiting with children in crisis in A&E, staff are overworked are under-resourced. It's time for the Health Secretary to get a grip or get out of the way. |
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