Response to Labour leader's promises for mental health treatment and services

29 September 2021

Responding to the Labour leader's promises for mental health treatment and services, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"We support measures that shine a light on the need to put mental and physical health on the same footing, and that will help trusts to tackle the huge care backlog in mental health services – nearly 1.6 million people are waiting for some kind of care or treatment for a mental health condition.

"COVID-19 has laid bare the challenges that were already facing mental health services before the pandemic. We need honesty about the scale of the challenge confronting mental health services now and in the future, as the full extent of mental health and COVID-19 demand becomes known.

"It is vital that the upcoming spending review makes good on commitments to date which, despite years of underinvestment and the enduring care deficit, had started to improve services and experiences for mental health patients.

"Crucially, the settlement for mental health must also acknowledge that mental health trusts are treating more patients than ever before, and that COVID-19 has added a significant challenge into the mix in terms of increasing the numbers needing help and the complexity of the help needed – issues that will be with us in the long-term.

"Failing to support mental health services now risks storing up significant problems for the future, to the detriment of individuals, their families, wider society and the economy. This must not be allowed to happen."