The Conservative government will invest the extra £1.25bn in children’s mental health services over the next parliament that was promised by the coalition prior to the election, the Department of Health has said.
The funding pledge was included in the coalition’s 2015-16 budget proposals set out in March. But the Conservatives election victory means that chancellor George Osborne will announce an ‘emergency budget’ in July that will replace the coalition plans with his party’s own spending commitments.
Pressure to free up mental health beds may be leaving vulnerable people at risk, says a watchdog.
Healthwatch England put in a Freedom of Information request and found psychiatric patients now spend six fewer days in hospital than in 2012-13.
The data, from 32 mental health trusts, shows average number of “bed days” per patient per year has fallen by 10%.
Healthwatch England says some patients are being discharged too early and without enough support.
Chairwoman Anna Bradley said the findings reflect a troubling picture where patients discharged from hospital often struggle to access crisis treatment at home.
A training scheme to fast-track graduates into mental health social work will be backed by £1.6m of government funding next year, care minister Norman Lamb is expected to announce tonight.
The Think Ahead programme will use the money to fund its operational costs in 2015-16. Costs include recruiting students, designing the academic curriculum, and developing a leadership training element for the scheme.
A PILOT project aimed at giving emergency mental health care to people in crisis in Leeds has proved so successful that it is set to become a permanent fixture in the city.
It was launched 12 months ago as health workers teamed up with police to offer an innovative ‘street triage’ service. After the successful Department of Health funded trial – which saw the number of people being detained by police under the Mental Health Act drop by a third – the Leeds Mental Health Triage is now being offered 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and West Yorkshire Police have jointly been providing the service.
