The Five year forward view for mental health was developed by the Independent Mental Health Taskforce for England and was published in February 2016.  This implementation plan, led by Claire Murdoch, the new national mental health director, and Tim Kendall, national clinical director for mental health, sets out how the plan will be delivered, including clarity on the new funding.  The report makes it clear that success depends on services being sustainable in the long term.

Local areas are encouraged to implement a number of approaches, including:

• co-producing services with people with lived experience of mental health problems and their families and carers
• early intervention to prevent deterioration and support recovery
• and supporting local commitments with outcome based commissioning.

Commenting on Implementing the Five year forward view for mental health, Saffron Cordery, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said:

 “We very much welcome the commitments set out in this implementation plan.  In particular, we are pleased at the clarity of clinical and operational imperatives which will help the Five year forward view for mental health become a reality. We congratulate Claire Murdoch and Tim Kendall for their work in getting the plan to this implementation stage. 

“The plan clearly sets out the financial allocations. This is critical as it will enable organisations like ours - representing providers of mental health care - to hold to account those commissioning and funding the services, namely CCGs and NHS England. We support the strong message throughout the plan that the funding arrangements will only work if the full amount is passed on to providers. 

 “This is a challenging, ambitious and exciting programme, which heralds a huge step forward for mental health provision in England. Every part of the health sector has a part to play in its delivery.  It will be particularly important to focus on integrating mental health across localities, sectors and to hard wire it into planning systems and processes, including sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). The implementation of this plan will only work well if mental health providers are recognised as an essential and equal partner in STP planning discussions.”