Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Mental Health Support

10 October 2024 · 17 other contributors · 13,292 words

Opened by Sojan Joseph Lab Ashford

Responding minister: Andrew Gwynne

Mental Health

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Sojan Joseph raised concerns about mental health support in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • Mr Sojan Joseph expressed significant concern about mental health service challenges, including staff shortages and high vacancy rates.
  • Mr Joseph highlighted figures showing 28,600 vacancies representing 19% of the total workforce, with a 19% turnover rate.
  • Mr Joseph noted the negative impact on staff morale due to understaffing and overwork, leading to increased aggression and abuse against staff.

Key requests to Government

Mr Joseph asked the Minister to clarify how the Government plans to achieve parity of esteem between physical and mental health, including whether they will continue increasing investment in mental health services at a higher rate than the overall NHS budget. He also requested information on when the Government's legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983 would be introduced.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Sojan Joseph Lab Ashford

Mr. Sojan Joseph expressed significant concern about the challenges faced by mental health services in the UK, highlighting issues such as staff shortages, high vacancy rates, and a recruitment and retention crisis. He pointed to figures showing 28,600 vacancies representing 19% of the total workforce, with a turnover rate of 19%. Mr. Joseph also emphasised the negative impact on staff morale due to understaffing and overwork, leading to increased aggression and abuse against staff. Furthermore, he noted that despite increased investment in mental health services, there is still a large gap between resources and demand, evidenced by long waiting lists and high prevalence rates of mental illness.

Other contributors (17)
  • Ben Spencer Con Runnymede and Weybridge

    Spencer highlighted the importance of acknowledging the social elements of mental health care, such as tobacco consumption among those with severe mental illness. He praised the previous government's initiatives like parity of esteem in law, expanded access to psychological therapies, and investment in mental health infrastructure. Spencer also discussed the need for a focus on psychosis and improving treatment options for conditions like schizophrenia.

  • Danny Chambers Lib Dem Winchester

    Chambers discussed the significant impact of non-medical issues like poverty and debt on mental health recovery. He praised a local project in Winchester that integrates Citizens Advice services with Melbury Lodge hospital, showing a £14.06 return for every £1 spent. Chambers urged the Government to consider rolling out similar initiatives across other regions.

  • Helen Maguire Lib Dem Epsom and Ewell

    Ms Maguire highlighted the lack of mental health support, mentioning local initiatives like Charley Moore's Grow and Glow women's support group and two charities: We Power On and Joe's Buddy Line. She called for a statutory requirement for all schools to have a specific mental health policy.

  • Helena Dollimore Lab Co-op Hastings and Rye

    Helena Dollimore highlighted the long waits for mental health support faced by children in her constituency. She praised the Labour Government's focus on reducing NHS waiting lists and hiring more mental health specialists, especially in schools. She also drew attention to local charity Eggtooth facing funding cuts from the NHS integrated care board, which would severely impact early intervention services for vulnerable young people.

  • Jack Abbott Lab Co-op Ipswich

    Mr. Jack Abbott highlighted the desperate state of mental health services in Ipswich under the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust, which has been consistently failing since its creation in 2012. He cited reports indicating over 400 unexpected unnatural deaths linked to avoidable suicides while patients were directly in the trust's care.

  • John Glen Con Salisbury

    Mr Glen agreed with the previous speaker, stressing the importance of building resilience and prevention to address mental health issues before they escalate. As a former Minister, I know it can be difficult to establish an evidence base for social prescribing. However, I urge the current Minister to continue making the case for this approach to improve mental health support in communities.

  • Lauren Sullivan Lab Gravesham

    Constituents in Gravesham are concerned about the difficulty of accessing mental health support, with only a safe place for discussing mental wellbeing preventing further additional help. The Elliott Holmes Memorial Fund provides direct access to counselling and has helped 271 young people since 2022.

  • Lee Pitcher Lab Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme

    My cousin died from suicide two years ago, highlighting that families never fully recover. The speaker emphasised the importance of charities like the Jackson Hope Foundation in providing a safe space for open discussions about mental health issues.

  • Lola McEvoy Lab Darlington

    I raised concerns about the mental health crisis in Darlington and its impact on employment, children's online safety, loneliness among older people, and opportunity gaps. I highlighted that within my network seven men have died by suicide, only one with a severe mental illness, indicating a need for addressing day-to-day poor mental health.

  • Luke Evans Con Hinckley and Bosworth

    Dr. Luke Evans discussed the distinction between mental wellbeing and mental health, emphasizing the increase in children suffering from various conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, autism, eating disorders, and depression. He called for a radical solution involving pooling education and health services to better utilize limited resources. The pandemic saw a significant increase in eating disorders, which can have lifelong impacts. I urge the Minister to prioritise addressing these issues and consider organising another roundtable with experts.

  • Mark Ferguson Lab Gateshead Central and Whickham

    The surge in demand for mental health services among children and young people is not being met by community-based services, with only 60 out of 1,745 children receiving first contact within six months in Gateshead. The number of mental health nurses has just returned to 2010 levels after years of cuts. Mark Ferguson agreed with Rachael Maskell's comments about the importance of charities in providing valuable resources to address mental health crises, especially concerning CAMHS waiting lists.

  • Rachael Maskell Lab Co-op York Central

    Rachael Maskell discussed the implementation of a transitional approach to mental health care in York, inspired by the Trieste model. She highlighted the establishment of community mental health hubs providing accessible support and interventions from health professionals, social prescribing, peer support, and welfare assistance. The emphasis was on creating a space for engagement and resilience building through an integrated community-based approach.

  • Shockat Adam Ind Leicester South

    People from ethnic minorities are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 at higher rates with worse experiences and outcomes, calling for healthcare workers to be culturally sensitive when dealing with people from these communities.

  • Simon Opher Lab Stroud

    Dr Opher discussed the high percentage of GP consultations related to mental health and advocated for better community-based support. He highlighted long wait times for neurodiversity assessments and CAMHS services, emphasizing the need for early intervention and prevention strategies.

  • Sonia Kumar Lab Dudley

    As an NHS physiotherapist, I know mental health impacts all aspects of a person's life, including sleep, diet, relationships. We need more care in the community, such as first contact practitioners and social prescribers.

  • Tony Vaughan Lab Folkestone and Hythe

    Mr Vaughan noted the concerning trend in mental health outcomes, citing statistics from Mind about rising cases of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. He stressed the need to address inequality, austerity, unemployment, housing issues, social media pressure on young people, and the stigma around mental health.

  • Tristan Osborne Lab Chatham and Aylesford

    Mr Osborne highlighted the link between workplace safety and mental wellbeing, noting that 12 billion days are lost annually due to poor mental health globally. He cited NHS Digital data showing a 17.3% diagnosis rate of depression among residents over 60 in his constituency and mentioned concerns about dementia and neurodivergent condition tests for children.

Government Response

Andrew Gwynne

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd, and it is also a pleasure to respond to this debate on World Mental Health Day. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) for securing the debate and for drawing on his long-standing experience of working in mental health care to raise so many important points in the debate. As several others have, including the shadow Minister, I thank everybody who works in the field of mental health, whether as a mental health practitioner or as one of the very many volunteers who give up their time freely to help people who are facing particular difficulties in their lives. I am responding to this debate on behalf of Baroness Merron, the Minister with responsibility for mental health, so apologies if I do not answer everybody's questions. I have taken copious notes and am sure that the powers that be sitting behind me have taken even more. If I do not answer all the points raised, Members can expect to receive something from the relevant Minister in due course. It has been a great debate. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) and the hon. Members for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) and for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans). The latter made a really important point about the interrelationship between education and health in the whole sphere of special educational needs, autism and so on. I reassure him and others who made that point that the beauty of being part of a mission-led Government that has five missions—one is the health mission and another is the opportunities mission—is that it allows Ministers the opportunity to look at things in the round and break out of departmental silos. I assure him that on these issues I am having bilateral meetings with counterparts in the Department for Education about how we drive forward key elements of the health mission, and also about the role that the Department of Health and Social Care can play in achieving the Government's opportunities mission. That work is taking place at departmental level. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson) for his contribution, and the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam), who is not in his place but made some really important points, particularly about the impact of the Mental Health Act on black and minority ethnic groups. I, and the Government, think it is shameful that under the existing Mental Health Act black people are three and a half times more likely to be detained than white people and eight times more likely to be placed on a community treatment order. Our mental health Bill will give patients greater choice and autonomy and enhanced rights and support, and we will ensure that it is designed to be respectful in terms of treatment with the aim of eradicating inequalities. I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan) and for York Central (Rachael Maskell). My hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) made a powerful contribution about Phoebe and about her ICB—I hope the ICB has listened. My hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne) made a contribution, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher). I reiterate to him that of course the arts have a powerful role to play in the health and wellbeing of the individual. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That will be one of the big challenges with the prevention agenda more generally, because often the investment we have to make today does not pay dividends immediately and there is a bit of a punt. Having been a Treasury Minister, he will know the challenges that that can present to the Treasury orthodoxy, but we have to push on this agenda. I should mention my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy), and welcome the hon. Members for Winchester (Dr Chambers) and for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer) to their Front-Bench positions. In the minutes I have left, I want to say to the House that many of the issues raised by Members during the debate are symptomatic of a struggling NHS. If we look at the figures, the challenges facing the NHS are sobering. In 2023, one in five children and young people aged eight to 25 had a mental health problem, which is a rise from one in eight in 2017. The covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated need, with analysis showing that 1.5 million children and young people under the age of 18 could need new or increased mental health support following the pandemic. I am reluctant to commit Ministers to roundtables when I am covering another portfolio, because then they will do the same when they cover me in Westminster Hall debates, but I will say that we take this agenda incredibly seriously. When we were in opposition we gave support to the then Government, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that we will do everything we can to support people who have eating disorders and to get the right provision and support at the right time to the people who need it. We are committed to reforming the NHS to ensure that we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. It is unacceptable that too many children, young people and adults do not receive the mental health care that they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that, which is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adolescent mental health services. We will also introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs. On other aspects of our plans, the mental health Bill announced in the King's Speech will deliver the Government's manifesto commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983. It will give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and it will ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout their medical treatment. Finally, Lord Darzi's report identified circumstances in which mental health patients are being accommodated in Victorian-era cells that are infested with vermin, with 17 men sharing two showers. We will ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout their treatment in a mental health hospital.

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