• Theresa May announces raft of mental health measures to “transform attitudes”
• Training for teachers and additional funding for community care among measures
• We welcome commitment to tackle unequal mental health provision but urge PM to match words with deeds

Prime minister Theresa May has announced plans to transform attitudes to mental health, by announcing measures with a clear focus on children and young people.

Additional training for teachers, an extra £15m for community care, and improved support in the workplace were among measures announced by the PM.

The prime minister said mental health had been "dangerously disregarded" as secondary to physical health and changing that would go "right to the heart of our humanity".

Responding to Theresa May’s speech on mental health, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said:

“We welcome the prime minister’s intervention on mental health. It is encouraging that she speaks with such conviction on the “burning injustice” of unequal mental health provision. She is right to call for a transformation in the way we deal with mental health right across society. The measures she outlined in schools and the workplace are a good starting point. We also welcome the steps she announced for additional community-based services and the suicide prevention strategy, and we look forward to contributing to the forthcoming review of mental health services.

Theresa May is not the first leading politician to argue for true parity between physical and mental health in the NHS. However, as she acknowledged, this has yet to be achieved.

 
“Theresa May is not the first leading politician to argue for true parity between physical and mental health in the NHS. However, as she acknowledged, this has yet to be achieved. Our recent survey of mental health trust leaders suggested that despite repeated pledges to ensure fair funding, these commitments are unlikely to be consistently met. People will rightly want to see words matched by deeds, to end this damaging injustice.”