The future of mental health: achieving the vision
13June
It is now two years since Sainsbury Centre, the NHS Confederation, the ADSS and the Local Government Association set out their vision for what mental health would be like in 2015. We set out a picture in which mental wellbeing was promoted in schools, workplaces and in all public services; in which primary mental health care was accessible to all; and in which those with enduring mental illnesses had much more control over their care and support.
It is commissioners who hold the keys to making the changes to public services that are needed to achieve any vision for the future. Health and local authority commissioners need to be in the lead for this process, promoting the need for change and using their buying power to achieve it.
As an example of the key role of commissioners in making change happen, Sainsbury Centre is today (12 June) publishing About Time, a guide to re-commissioning day and vocational services for people with mental health problems.
Having social contacts and being in work are good for health. They play an especially important part in recovery from mental ill health. Thus it is now government policy to give people with mental health problems an equal chance of achieving their ambitions in life. Yet people with severe mental health problems experience remarkably high levels of social isolation and unemployment.
Adult mental health day and vocational services are crucial to give people a realistic chance of achieving their hopes and aspirations and of participating fully in their communities. Too often they are under-achieving in that regard despite costing over £150 million a year.
Commissioners must lead they way in hearing what people want from services and driving the changes needed. But when posed with conflicting questions and polarised perspectives on existing services, commissioners are faced with both a dilemma and a challenge. How do they build on and change the configuration of services to meet both current needs and future aspirations in the absence of appreciable amounts of new money?
Modernising day and vocational services is not easy. It can mean de-commissioning services that do not meet people’s needs and transferring some statutory services into the voluntary sector or to become social firms. But we have now shown that the re-commissioning process can make a real difference to people’s lives. That opportunity should be ignored no longer.
About Time is available from Sainsbury Centre, price £25, on 020 7827 8300 or at www.scmh.org.uk/employment.
Angela Greatley, Chief Executive of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
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