Social Exclusion Unit report must lead to concerted attack on discrimination, says SCMH

14 June 2004

"Today's report on the exclusion of people with mental health problems from normal life must become a watershed in mental health," Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health acting chief executive Angela Greatley said today.

Speaking on the day the Social Exclusion Unit published its report on mental health, Angela Greatley said: "People with mental health problems experience discrimination in all aspects of their lives. From getting a job to having a social life, prejudices about mental ill health block people affected by it from leading ordinary lives.

"Having a mental health problem does not prevent a person from having a home, a job or an education. It is only because people with mental health problems are sidelined by others in our society that they so often face a downward spiral of ill health, poverty and isolation. This spiral must be broken as a matter of urgency.

"A lot can be achieved if government departments, public services, the voluntary sector, businesses, service users and user led organisations work together in an equal partnership to tackle discrimination. What we need now is a concerted effort to tackle all of the barriers to equality, from discrimination in the workplace to the fear generated by the workings of the benefits system. We welcome the report as a step on that road.

"The journey to exclusion often begins in the very services that are supposed to help people. The role and purpose of mental health services must be rethought with much more emphasis put on preventing people losing their jobs, their relationships and their place in society. It may now be time to review the way the National Service Framework for mental health is being implemented in the light of this report.

"Today's report also makes the Government's proposals to reform the Mental Health Act even more outmoded and counter-productive than ever. Extending the use of compulsory treatment will serve only to increase the stigma associated with mental ill health. If such proposals were put into practice, they would seriously undermine the positive work the Government is now undertaking to tackle prejudice and discrimination."