Mental health support programme launched
pharmafile | December 14, 2009 | News story | |Â Â NICE, mental healthÂ
A government programme offering workplace support for people with mental health issues has been launched.
The idea is to allow sufferers from conditions such as depression to stay in – or quickly get back into – employment.
“This strategy includes a national roll-out of our successful talking therapies programme, NICE guidelines, new action on suicide prevention and a plan to tackle the stigma shrouding mental illness,” said health secretary Andy Burnham.
New Horizons: A Shared Vision for Mental Health will pilot nine dedicated occupational health advice lines for small businesses in Britain to direct employers to relevant services.
Seven of these phone lines will be in England, with one each in Scotland and Wales.
There will also be a new network of mental health co-ordinators in Jobcentre Plus districts to align health and employment support and improve people’s chances of getting work.
Mental ill-health is a serious social and financial issue: depression affects one in six people, suicide is the second biggest killer of men aged 15-44, and mental illness costs the economy £30-40 billion in lost production, sick pay and NHS treatment.
But Labour has a good record in tackling it. A report from the World Health Organisation a year ago said England’s mental health care was setting an example for the rest of Europe.
In 1999, the new Labour government launched the first National Service Framework for Mental Health, appointing a mental health ‘czar’.
And the WHO said in 2008 that its investment has paid off and is likely to have a long-term positive impact on the lives of patients.
“New Horizons follows a decade of record investment in mental health services,” says Burnham.
“There are now more consultant psychiatrists, more clinical psychologists and more mental health nurses than ever before.”
The WHO figures showed England had 12.7 psychiatrists per 100,000 of the population, compared to the European average of 8.9, with 51.9 nurses (average 18.7).
The report also said England directs 13.8% of the health budget towards mental health – the highest level in Europe.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Cabinet Office, as well as the Department of Health, are involved in the New Horizons programme.
Work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper said it would help businesses “understand what they can do to help people stay in their jobs and manage their condition so that they don’t have to leave work and fall onto benefits at all”.
Dr Rachel Perkins, who led a DWP-commissioned review on the subject, said: “We know that work improves mental health and wellbeing and most people with a mental health condition would like to be in work and pursue a career.”
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