Councils spending on mental health shrinking
Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire authorities are spending less than 1% of their public health budget on mental health.
Councils in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire are spending on average less than 1% of their public health budget on mental health.
The amount local authorities are investing in preventing mental health problems has fallen for the last three years - according to new data.
Some councils aren't spending anything at all on this type of provision.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind which carried out the research, said:
“Our research shows that the current spend on public mental health initiatives is negligible. This can’t continue. Prevention is always better than cure and ignoring the problem simply doesn’t make sense. Investment could stop people who aren’t unwell developing mental health problems in the future.
“It is not acceptable that such a small amount of the public health purse goes on preventing mental health problems. It undermines the Government’s commitment to giving mental health equality with physical health. One in four people will experience a mental health problem every year, yet so much of this could be prevented by targeted programmes aimed at groups we know to be at risk, such as pregnant women, people who are isolated, people from BAME and rural communities or those living with a long term physical health problem.
“Having a mental health problem can impact on all aspects of our lives, from our relationships and work to our physical health. The personal costs are immeasurable, and the wider economic cost is huge. We need local authorities to use their budgets to help people in their communities stay mentally healthy and reduce the chances of them becoming unwell.”
Councils here say they understand the need to improve and promote mental health and are already implementing this through numerous initiatives.
Dr Tim Allison, director of Public Health at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said:* *
"East Riding of Yorkshire Council recognises the importance of improving and promoting mental health and is implementing many initiatives designed to do this.
"Examples include tackling loneliness and isolation, suicide prevention and anti-bullying. The great majority of money spent as part of our Public Health Grant is for specified clinical services such as sexual health, substance misuse and children's public health nursing. This means that there is only a relatively small part of the Grant available to spend on either specific physical or mental health improvement activity.
"We work with our partners who commission and provide mental health services to maximise the opportunity for mental health improvement; also services such as substance misuse and children's public health nursing play significant roles in improving mental health, although not counted as specific mental health services. We continue to look to strengthen mental health improvement, but this is a challenge with a reduction in the Public Health Grant."