How the NHS’s ten-year plan promises to prioritise mental health

NHS England admit they may need a full decade to ensure that 100 percent of children and young people who need specialist care can access it.

NHS England today revealed how it plans to invest its share of the the £20 billion ’70th birthday present’ the health service was awarded last year by the government.

Over the next decade investment in mental health will grow faster than support for physical health. Mental Health spending will nonetheless not grow much higher than 10 percent of the overall budget.

Adults

Last year’s independent review of the Mental Health Act prompted the government to commit to promoting choice and autonomy in crisis care through ‘Advance Choice Documents’.

The NHS’s new strategy says that by 2023/24 new models of care, “underpinned by improved information sharing”, will give 370,000 adults greater choice and control over their care, and support them to live well in their communities.”

Today’s document says its psychological therapy services “have evolved to deliver benefits to people with long-term conditions, providing genuinely integrated care for people at the point of delivery. More than half of patients who use IAPT [Improving Access to Psychological Therapies] services are moving to recovery, and nine out of ten people now start treatment in less than six weeks.”