• NHS Providers and the Healthcare Financial Management Association surveyed finance directors in mental health trusts and chief finance officers in clinical commissioning groups
• Survey found that the government’s commitment to parity of esteem is being undermined by a failure to ensure funding increases reach the frontline
• The accompanying report calls for greater clarity and transparency from the government and leader of the arms-length bodies in four key areas

A new survey has found that the government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health services is being undermined by a failure to ensure funding increases reach the frontline.

NHS Providers and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) surveyed finance directors in mental health trusts and chief finance officers in clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to understand how the parity of esteem commitment is being implemented locally. More than half (55%) of England’s mental health trusts responded, along with 10% of CCGs.
The report, Funding mental health at local level: unpicking the variation reveals that:

• Only half (52%) of providers reported that they had received a real terms increase in funding of their services in 2015/16.
• There is limited confidence that funding increases will be delivered this year, with only a quarter (25%) of providers saying they were confident that their commissioners were going to increase the value of their contracts for 2016/17.
• There is a lack of alignment between commissioners and providers over what it means to implement parity of esteem – there is confusion over what services should be covered, and how much investment should be made.

The report calls for greater clarity and transparency from the government and leaders of the arms-length bodies in the following key areas:

1. How much is being made available for mental health services, and in which areas
2. Linked to this, greater transparency across the system about how much is actually being spent on mental health services
3. Explicit alignment about what it means to meet parity of esteem commitments – this is because at both national and local level organisations are interpreting the requirements in different ways, which is leading to a patchwork of investment and services for patients
4. Better enforcement and support for local organisations – this is needed to help counter the significant local variation highlighted in this survey about how the rules are being interpreted and responded to. Where organisations are struggling to invest in line with the guidance, support should be required to ensure that challenges are addressed.

Commenting on the findings, NHS Providers director of policy and strategy, Saffron Cordery, said:

“Much has been said at the national level to improve the disparity between mental and physical health, but this report highlights that the necessary investment is not reaching frontline NHS trusts. These are the very organisations that are facing increasing levels of demand and pressure on their resources, whilst needing to provide the most essential urgent and long term care, treatment and support to service users.”

Read the full press statement.