Policy Watch: Mental Health & Recovery - Centre for Mental Health

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Mental health policy

Policy Watch - Mental Health Policy

17/05/2012 Delirium guidelines updated by NICE NICE has published an update on its 2010 Guidance on Delirium, Delirium: diagnosis, prevention and management, which highlights new research, including the potential benefits of introducing a risk assessment tool. Around 20% of people on medical wards in hospital are affected by delirium.
11/05/2012 What promotes and hinders joint and integrated working between health and social care services The Social Care Institute for Excellence has published a briefing that offers an overview of the different models of working between health and social care services at the strategic, commissioning and operational level.
11/05/2012 Study finds the care of people with people with long-term conditions is poorly co-ordinated and inefficient The health system in the UK is struggling to care for the rising number of people who have two or more chronic illnesses, argues the authors of a study published in The Lancet this week. The authors propose that generalist clinicians who "can oversee all the problems" and provide personalised care would better serve people with multiple conditions.
04/05/2012 Early intervention supported by research revealing the cost of troubled families In a new report, Out of trouble: Families with complex problems, a guide for funders, New Philanthropy Capital highlights the cost of troubled families. Estimating that the 120,000 most troubled families cost society up to £9bn every year, NPC argues that early intervention is key and that services should be provided before problems are entrenched.
03/05/2012 Contributions sought for the government strategy on long term conditions The Department of Health is working with other government departments to develop a strategy on long term conditions and is inviting comments via a new long term conditions website, where you can have your say.
30/04/2012 New report by Civitas: What can we do better to reduce offending by drug addicts? This report by the think tank Civitas focuses on the evidence base for what works in drug rehabilitation, with a particular focus on criminal justice issues. It concludes that the evidence does not conclusively support one particular treatment, but suggests that a diverse range of quality treatments are necessary. The report recognises that it is only in a few cases where drug addiction is the primary motivator for crime and that in most cases successful interventions must address multiple needs, including those relating to mental health, housing or access to employment or training. Read the report here.
26/04/2012 Updated guidelines on treating depression in adults with a chronic health problem The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published an evidence update to its guidelines, Depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem.
20/04/2012 New briefing from NHS Confederation on homelessness and mental health This briefing paper sets out the policy context around tackling homelessness and addressing the mental health needs of homeless people. It also examines what considerations need to be made when planning, designing and delivering mental health services for homeless people and highlights examples of good practice.
19/04/2012 Study finds there is insufficient evidence to recommend first line treatment for depression in cancer patients Researchers at the University of Toronto have reviewed the psychosocial and pharmacologic treatment of depression in patients with cancer, reports The mental elf. While depression is at least three times as common in patients with cancer compared to the rest of the population, it was found that there is insufficient evidence to recommend first line treatment for depression for cancer patients.
26/03/2012 Government release alcohol strategy This strategy sets out Government proposals to cut down alcohol fuelled violence and disorder and reduce the number of people drinking to damaging levels. It includes commitments to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol; consult on a ban on the sale of multi-buy alcohol discounting; introduce stronger powers for local areas to control the density of licensed premises; and pilot sobriety schemes to challenge alcohol-related offending. View the strategy on the Home Office website here.
16/03/2012 Final report of the evaluation of the youth justice liaison and diversion pilot scheme The Department of Health has published its final report of an evaluation of the youth justice liaison and diversion pilot scheme. The report notes that there was universal support for making diversion a more systematic or compulsory element within police practice, and makes 11 eleven policy, practice and research recommendations, including integrating diversion scheme with existing services.
14/03/2012 DWP Social justice strategy published The Department for Work and Pensions has published a strategy for working with and assisting the most vulnerable individuals and families, Social justice: transforming lives. The Centre welcomes the focus on people with multiple needs and in particular the recognition that there is a group of adults who require support across a range of areas and who are currently falling through the gap in services.
07/03/2012 DWP release Qualitative study of offender employment review: final report The DWP's Qualitative study of offender employment review: final report identifies how well key recommendations have been implemented ‘on the ground’ in both custodial and community settings; and assesses the extent to which changes have begun to improve offender employment services.
07/03/2012 Access to Work programme will be 'more efficient' -Government publishes response to disability and employment consultation The Government have now published their response to the consultation "Disability employment Support: fulfilling potential" on 7 March 2012. This response sets out the strategy for specialist disability employment programmes and includes a summary of the responses to the public consultation of the Sayce Review "Getting in, staying in and getting on”. In the response the Government has pledged to make the Access to Work programme more efficient and to 'place more control in the hands of individuals.'
06/03/2012 Improving Physical and Mental Health website launched The new Improving Physical and Mental Health website gives psychiatrists easy access to tools ensure their patients receive the physical healthcare they need as part of their recovery. Created with leadership from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and with the support of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the website signposts a manageable selection of key resources, including clinical guidance, screening and monitoring tools, information on service models, and further reading. Its content has been reviewed by panels of clinicians drawn from several Royal Colleges, who will continue to update and develop the site on an ongoing basis.
06/03/2012 Lord Layard calls for mental health minister at Cabinet level Labour peer Richard Layard will argue that mental health is all too often overlooked by policy makers and should represent a "sixth pillar" of the welfare state. Read more here
02/03/2012 Consultation on statistics produced from Mental Health Minimum Datasets (MHMDS) The Health and Social Care Information Centre is consulting on what measures and administrative breakdowns should be provided in regular statistics and data extracts from the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS). A new version of MHMDS (version 4) provides a richer data source than before, with potential for new analyses, and The Health and Social Care Information Centre are seeking to find out what users of the data would find most useful. Complete the consultation online here.
01/03/2012 Mental health charity launches free tool to help mental health professionals address the physical health needs of the people they support People with severe mental illness die on average 20 years younger than the general population, often from preventable physical illnesses. Rethink Mental Illness has developed a range of free resources to support mental health professionals in addressing the physical health needs of the people they support. The Physical Health Check assesses and identifies key physical health concerns. It enables health professionals and people affected by mental illness to develop plans together to address any unmet physical health needs and include a free, easy-to-use e-learning training package, designed to highlight the key physical health risks that affect people with mental illness. Download the resources here.
01/03/2012 People with mental illness are four times more likely to be victims of violence, report finds Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University and the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that people with mental illness are four times more likely to be victims of violence. This alarming statistic is based on a review of research looking at how often people with a range of disabilities had experienced violence in the previous year, and how this compared with non-disabled people. After combining the results of 26 previous studies, researchers found that more than 24% of those with a mental illness had been physically attacked in the previous year, as had more than 6% of people with intellectual impairments and more than 3% of people with all types of disability. People with disabilities were generally more at risk of violence than non-disabled individuals. Read the abstract on the Lancet here.
01/03/2012 Centre welcomes Health Bill change on aftercare The Centre welcomes the Government's agreement to an amendment to the Health Bill during the report stage in the House of Lords yesterday. A coalition of mental health organisations, including the Centre, had jointly argued that the proposed change to Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, detailed in Clause 39 of the Health Bill, would have altered NHS and social services’ duty to provide aftercare provision. While the amendment proposed by Lord Patel of Bradford was accepted unopposed by the Government, some technicalities remain to be resolved. The Hansard record of the debate can be read here.
20/02/2012 Question tabled in Scottish Parliament on Centre and Kings Fund report on Long term Conditions Alison McInnes MP asked the Scottish Executive, in light of the findings of the King's Fund report, Long-term conditions and mental health: The cost of co-morbidities, what assessment it has made of NHS spend on mental health problems in people with long-term conditions. You can download the report here
08/02/2012 New commissioning guides for high quality mental health services The Royal College of Psychiatrists has published four guides to help current and future commissioners plan and deliver high quality mental health services. The guides describe what good quality, modern mental health services should look like and bring together scientific evidence, patient and carer experience and viewpoints, and examples of best practice. Guidance for commissioners of primary mental health care services Guidance for commissioners of liaison mental health services to acute hospitals Guidance for commissioners of dementia services Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for young people making the transition from child and adolescent to adult services
07/02/2012 Personal Independence Payment- survey for joint consultation response Together with MIND, Mental Health Foundation, SAMH, Royal College of Psychatrists and Rethink mental iIllness the centre are looking for people who are recieiving Disability Living Allowance because of a mental health problem, or a mixture of mental and physical health problems, to complete a short survey. Our organisations are worried about how the switch to the new benefit will impact on people with mental health problems and we will be expressing these concerns in a joint response to the Government's consultation on the proposed changes. You can help us to ensure that this consultation response is as informed and powerful as possible by completing the survey below if you are currently claiming DLA, or by passing this on to someone you know who does. Take the survey here: http://surveymonkey.com/s/pip-mentalhealth
02/02/2012 Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) - NICE Consultation- closes 29 February As part of the process to develop a Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) that measures the health outcomes and quality of care achieved by clinical commissioning groups, NICE is encouraging organisations, groups and individuals in England to comment on potential new indicators. The indicators have been recommended by the COF Advisory Committee, as well as a number based on the NHS Outcomes Framework, and an additional list identified by the NHS Information Centre. This document includes one set of indicators for the new CCGs to measure their performance proposed for use from April 2013 and a further set that could be developed in the future. To view the potential indicators (including indicators for mental health) and participate in the consultation visit this webpage: http://www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/cof/ConsultationOnCOFIndicators.jsp The consultation will close at 5pm on Wednesday 29 February 2012.
02/02/2012 Briefing notes on government amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill: Lords report stage This briefing outlines the amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, as proposed by the government. You can download the briefing here
01/02/2012 Health Work and Wellbeing resource for business launched Health, Work and Well-being is a cross-Government initiative to 'protect and improve the health and well-being of working age people'. The initiative promotes the positive links between health and work and aims to help more people with health conditions to find and stay in employment. It brings together employers, trade unions, healthcare professionals and other partners and builds on a growing evidence base that working is good for health.
01/02/2012 Defining Mental Health Services, new report from NHS Confed The lack of a consistent set of definitions that describe what is meant by an inpatient bed has led to difficulty in benchmarking and understanding patterns of performance. The NHS Confederation has published definitions for mental health inpatient services Defining Mental Health Services, which will enable decision making about service redesign to be more consistent, based on a set of definitions that are well understood and accepted across the system.
23/01/2012 Helping employees who become severely depressed: new article by Centre's Bob Grove, Helen Lockett and Jan Hutchinson Depression, anxiety and related problems are very common indeed - in the UK about one in six workers have levels of distress that doctors would diagnose as illness. This article, published in the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation's newsletter, sets out the ways in which employers can create healthy productive workforces and manage the mental distress. Read the article online here.
18/01/2012 How the police can improve services for people with a mental illness Newly appointed as lead on mental health and disability at the Assocation of Chief Police Officers, Simon Cole, Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary, has written a blog on the challenges faced by police to improve services for those with mental health issues or disabilities.
11/01/2012 Troops charity Forces in Mind launched to help veterans with mental illness Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) has been given £35m from the lottery and partnership support from the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry. Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) is a grouping of charities and mental health organisations, led by the Confederation of Service Charities. The FIMT aims to provide UK-wide long-term support and advice - over the next 20 years - to ex-service personnel adjusting back into everyday life after experiencing action on the front line. The trust will help soliders suffering from poor mental health, family breakdown and alcohol-related problems. Read Across the Wire, a report from the Centre on veterans and mental health here
09/01/2012 People with mental health problems will be unfairly affected by proposed changes to the DLA, report finds A report entirely written, researched, funded, and supported by sick and disabled people, their friends and carers Responsible Reform: A Report on the proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance has concluded that Government’s response to the DLA consultation presented a highly misleading view of the responses it received. It also finds that due to the fluctuating nature of mental illness, people who suffer from a mental health problem will be unfairly affected by the introduction of the Personal independence Payment. Read the Centre's original joint response to the consultation here
09/01/2012 Celebrities pledge to 'Get talking!' and end the silence surrounding mental illness Time to Change, the anti mental health stigma campaign backed by national mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, have launched a new campaign to encourage people to talk openly about mental illness. Celebrities including Gok Wan and Stephen Fry have publicly pledged to 'get talking' to tackle mental health discrimination. To start a conversation about mental health, either online through social media or face-to-face go to the Time to Change website here.
19/12/2011 NICE publish guidance to 'tackle the stigma associated with mental illness' New NICE guidance and quality standards aim to ensure users of mental health services have the best possible experience of care from the NHS. This quality standard describes markers of care that should contribute to improving the effectiveness, safety and experience of care for service users. Download the guidance here Download the quality standard here
15/12/2011 Sick on the job? Myths and realities about mental health and work A new report, Sick on the job? published by the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) finds further evidence to support a shift in focus towards on treating common mental health problems and recommends that people with depression and anxiety problems should be supported to stay in work. Read the report summary here
15/12/2011 NICE calls for NHS adult services to provide person-centred care The National Institute for Health and Clinical excellence (NICE) has urged for an improvement in NHS adult mental health services, calling for person-centred care that tackles the stigma associated with mental illness. Read the NICE recommendations here
12/12/2011 Half of all people with mental health problems are living below the poverty line Half of all people with mental health problems are living below the poverty line, according to a new report from Mind. More than three fifths of all respondents, and three quarters of those in problem debt, reported often feeling confused about their finances. People with mental health problems are three times more likely to be in debt than the general population. Three quarters of the 900 people who participated in Mind's Still in the Red survey said their illness had made their debt worse. Read more here
08/12/2011 Good housing critical for good mental health, NHS Confed report finds The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network has published a report, Housing and Mental Health, that stresses how a settled home is vital for good mental health, and how support with housing can improve the health of individuals, thus reducing the overall demand for health and social care services.
08/12/2011 NHS Confed briefing calls for outcomes based implementation framework for mental health strategy In response to the coalition government's call for a focus on outcomes rather tragets, the NHS Confederation Mental Health Network has published a briefing that sets out the policy context for outcomes in mental health and stresses the need to develop an implementation framework in support of the mental health strategy. Read the briefing here.
08/12/2011 Care Quality Commission publish Mental Health Act Annual Report 2010/11 The Care Quality Commission has published the second annual report on the Mental Health Act. The report presents findings on the use of the Act and indicates areas where improvement is needed. You can download the report here.
02/12/2011 Royal College of Psychiatrists launches workplace web resource The Royal College of Psychiatrists has launched an online work and mental health resource offering information and guidance on staying in work or returning to work after a period of mental ill-health. The site links to resources from organisations such as Mind, Rethink, Centre for Mental Health and the Health and Safety Executive and deals with important day-to-day matters such as benefits and the Equality Act (2010). View the page here
01/12/2011 People with mental illness 'still live 15-20 years less' The continued disparity in the mortality rate between people with mental disorders and the rest of the population is revealed in a new study published in the December issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. Research from Denmark, Finland and Sweden shows that the life expectancy gap has remained largely unchanged over the last 20 years – despite changes to the provision of mental health services and improvements in public healthcare.
28/11/2011 Mental health discrimination bill passes second reading Lord Stevenson’s mental health discrimination bill passed its second reading and will go to a committee of the whole House. The bill seeks to remove anachronistic and unnecessary limitations on the opportunities available to people with a mental health problem. You can read the Hansard transcript here
28/11/2011 Charles Walker MP tables question on Secure Services on behalf of the Centre Charles Walker MP asked Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to support the development of step down and community services for people requiring discharge from secure mental health services. Read the minister's reponse on Hansard here.
28/11/2011 NHS Confed publishes Mental health: Payment by Results readiness review The aim of this review was to provide an assessment of commissioners’ and providers’ readiness to deliver the Department of Health policy commitment that adult mental health Payment by Results currencies should be used for commissioning and reimbursement purposes from April 2012. The review was carried out by seeking the views of a wide spread of people in mental health trusts, commissioners, local authorities and the independent sector, as well as national stakeholders. Read the review here
28/11/2011 Joining in the conversation - NHS Confed report on social media and mental health services This briefing from the NHS Confed looks at social media innovations underway in healthcare as a whole and highlights case studies from Mental Health Network member organisations. Download the briefing here.
24/11/2011 Centre welcomes the government's decision to abandon plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board The Centre welcomes the government's decision to abandon plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board, minister Lord McNally announced yesterday. The plan, detailed in the Public Bodies Bill, had met with considerable opposition. The Centre had urged for a separate body independent from the adult system to ensure that young people in the youth justice system are seen as children first and offenders second. The House of Commons Justice Committee published the Tenth report of session 2010–12, The Proposed Abolition of the Youth Justice Board yesterday.
23/11/2011 Calls about childhood aggressive behaviour up 2 per cent says helpline: Family Lives: 2011 Aggression Report Family Lives’ updated aggression report has found that calls to its Parentline regarding aggressive behaviour have increased by 2% and only 56% of respondents to an online survey had sought help for their child’s problem. Published as part of the 'Instructions not included campaign', When Family Life Hurts: Family Experience of Aggression in Children reveals that a growing number of parents are seriously concerned about their child's aggression and that many are unsure as to why their children display aggressive behaviour. Family Lives calls for Government to recognise – in addition to early years support - the particular needs of many parents of older children and teenagers.
09/11/2011 Psychiatrists are failing to carry out physical health checks for metabolic complications, report finds A report from the university of Leicester has found that despite increased cardiometabolic risk in individuals with mental illness taking antipsychotic medication, metabolic screening practices are often incomplete or inconsistent. The report concluded in routine clinical practice, metabolic monitoring is concerningly low in people prescribed antipsychotic medication. Although guidelines can increase monitoring, most patients still do not receive adequate testing. View abstract on PubMed
09/11/2011 Centre responds to proposals for a new mandatory power of possession in cases of anti-social behaviour The Department of Communities and Local Government have recently consulted on the proposal for a new mandatory power of possession to be available to landlords where tenants are involved in serious housing-related anti-social behaviour. Following the riots in August, the Government also proposed an additional discretionary ground for possession to cover certain activity perpetrated anywhere in the UK. At the moment, the discretionary ground for possession is only available where the anti-social or criminal behaviour took place in the person’s locality. The Centre's response details why do not support these proposals. View the consultation paper here
08/11/2011 Middle-aged more likely to develop mental health problems on a low income "An increased prevalence of psychological distress, common mental disorder diagnoses and treatment in midlife is not a universal phenomenon but is found only in those in low-income households. This implies the phenomenon is not inevitable but is potentially manageable or preventable." Researchers from Exeter University claim. The report Income and the midlife peak in common mental disorder prevalence found that prevalence of psychological distress, diagnoses and treatments rose with age until early middle age and declined subsequently. In analyses conducted separately by income categories, this pattern was marked in low-income groups but absent in high-income groups. Income-related inequalities in the prevalence of psychological distress were greatest in midlife; for example, in men aged 45-54 years the odds ratio of receiving psychiatric medication in the lowest income group compared with the highest was 7.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.24-13.27] and in women aged 45-54 years the odds ratio of reporting mental illness was 10.25 (95% CI 6.16-17.05). Read more on the Mental Elf blog Read the report on PubMed
03/11/2011 Secure and High Dependency services remain the largest single area of spend accounting for 19% of expenditure on direct services, DOH report finds The National Survey of Investment in Adult Mental Health Services, published annually by the Department of Health, has revealed Secure and High Dependency services remain the largest single area of spend accounting for 19% of expenditure on direct services. The survey, which reports on the level of investment in mental health services, found that total investment increased from £6.323 billion in 2009/10 to £6.550 billion; a 3.6% cash increase and a real increase of 0.7%. Read the breakdown on the Mental Elf blog Download the report from the DOH website here
02/11/2011 Public Health England (PHE) must be visibly and operationally independent, say MP's in Health Committee report The 12th report HC 1048-I & II from the Health Select Committee was was released today with a number of recommendations for a new public health framework. The report recommends that the Health and Social Care Bill be amended to include a statutory duty on local authorities to address health inequalities: It highlights the crucial role of public health expertise in the commissioning of NHS services – the Government has said that Directors of Public Health (DsPH) will provide public health expertise, advice and analysis to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) and the NHS Commissioning Board – but the report says this is not enough. It recommends that the local DPH should be a member of the Board of each CCG. There should also be a qualified public health professional on the NHS Commissioning Board, and the Board should routinely take advice from qualified public health professionals when commissioning decisions are being taken. The Committee are concerned that the involvement of local authorities, Public Health England and the NHS Commissioning Board in various facets of public health commissioning will produce a lack of coordination and cohesion in public health services. The report also recommends a single, integrated Outcomes Framework for public health, the NHS and adult social care – and is therefore concerned that the NHS and social care Outcomes Framework have been finalised before the framework for public health. http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/committees/recent-reports/
31/10/2011 The rights of people with mental disorders: WPA perspective The first indisputable right of a person with a mental disorder is to find in the public health system a professional who is able to understand the nature of that disorder. Comment in the Lancet from Mario Maj, President of the World Psychiatric Association
31/10/2011 Centre for Social Justice report finds that 'the most disadvantaged are those who are most likely to lose their liberty because of a lack of basic social support' A new report, Completing the Revolution, transforming mental health and tackling povery from the Centre for Social Justice found that the 'pathways to poverty' that the CSJ has identified also contribute to the development of poor mental health. the report recommends that those working with the mentallly ill shoud see themselves as integral to the wider social movement to tackle the dirivers and effects of poverty. Read the full report here
31/10/2011 Planned reform of the health care system does nothing to combat loneliness and isolation, report finds A new report Communities connected: inclusion, participation and common purpose, by Professor David Morris FRSA and Alison Gilchrist set out a series of recommendations for government and health care bodies concluding that by creating a more 'transactional' or impersonal relationship between the users and providers of public services, government reforms will not build or sustain the social networks that are vital for both people's physical and mental health. See the full report here
27/10/2011 Report on bullying in custody: Learning from PPO investigations: violence reduction, bullying and safety A newly released report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) on the impact of intimidation, violence and bullying on those who take their own lives in prison highlights the steps prison staff need to take to record and share more information about violence and intimidation to improve safety. The report was produced after it was found that 20% of the PPO’s investigations into self-inflicted deaths in custody found evidence that the deceased was subject to bullying or intimidation by other prisoners in the three months prior to their death. The report finds that in some cases, more reliable and thorough recording of information might have enabled a clearer picture to emerge of the risks and individual faced. In other cases, although information was recorded, it was not shared with those who could have usefully contributed to identifying and alleviating problems. Read the full report here. Read the full report here.
05/10/2011 Give prisoners a better chance to find work, say company chiefs The leading exectives of eight of the UK’s most prominent companies have urged UK business to offer more jobs to former prisoners and those still in jail. In a recent letter to the Financial Times, the company chiefs call for fellow bosses to take advantage of the skills many ex-offenders can offer; “It makes sense for UK companies to recruit these individuals and to make use of their skills and enthusiasm”. The letter was published on the day that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke announced plans for every prison in England and Wales to start up a profit-making company staffed by inmates. Acknowledging evidence that re-offending figures are significantly reduced among prison leavers who go into a full-time job upon their release, the business leaders back the government’s efforts to “introduce real work into prison”, so that offenders can learn new skills while behind bars.
19/09/2011 Report released on public transport issues facing people with mental health problems Access to good public transport can be liberating for those with mental health issues, a new report from the Mental Health Action Group has found. Drawn from the direct experience of sufferers from across the country Mental Health and Public Transport examines both the importance of public transport and its accessibility, and highlights the many factors which affect access, including concessionary fares. The authors make 28 recommendations which, if acted upon, they believe would support the Government’s mental health strategy and help deliver vastly better outcomes for so many people.
15/09/2011 Updated factsheet from NHS Confederation Mental Health Network: 2.3 million people with a mental health condition are on benefits or out of work The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network have updated their 2009 publication with new information about trends in mental health. The factsheet provides an overview of the prevalence of mental disorders, employment and housing, stigma and discrimination, current NHS spending, service activity, quality, safety and user experience. The introduction explains: "The overall picture is a mixed one. For example, it is encouraging to see patients spending less time in hospitals –pointing perhaps towards the increasing use of community-based treatments. However, it is concerning that people on a Care Programme Approach do not feel they are getting the support they need in terms of employment, housing and financial advice."
14/09/2011 The prevalence of mental health problems among users of NHS Stop Smoking Services The absence of standard procedures to record mental health problems among service users in many stop smoking services is currently likely to prevent the detection of co morbidity. A new paper, published by Surrey Primary Care Trust, argues that the implementation of simple screening procedures would ensure services can be tailored and delivered appropriately to the client group.
14/09/2011 Personal health budgets: the views of service users and carers The NHS Confederation has published a report that examines the views of mental health service users and carers. Personal health budgets: the views of service users and carers outlines the frustration that people feel with the level of involvement that mental health services currently offer, but shows that their opinions of personal health budgets are mixed.
12/09/2011 Homelessness linked to chaotic life experiences and poor mental health A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicates that homelessness is not just a housing issue but is inextricably linked with complex and chaotic life experiences. Tackling homelessness and exclusion highlights the prevalence of mental health issues, traumatic childhood experiences and suicide attempts amongst people accessing low-level homelessness support services.
09/09/2011 Mental disorders affect more than a third of Europeans a year The European College of Neuropsychcopharmacology has found that more than a third of the population of Europe, some 164 million people, suffer from some sort of a mental disorder each year. The Size and Burden of Mental Disorders in Europe demonstrates the degree to which mental disorders have become Europe’s largest health challenge in the 21st century and that the majority remain untreated.
31/08/2011 PCTs urged to fill alcohol treatment gap in prisons Commissioners are being urged to extend the range of services on offer for prisoners with alcohol addiction, in light of research suggesting current provision is insufficient. The Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust has found more than a third of prisoners assessed by addiction services – roughly around half of all prisoners undergo an assessment – are “severely dependent on alcohol”.
16/08/2011 Service users challenge personal health budgets Service users are sceptical about the potential of personal budgets to improve their care according to a new report from the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network Mental health. A range of practical and cultural issues need to be addressed before successful implementation argues the report.
16/08/2011 New DOH guidelines released for transferring children and young people from custody under the Mental Health Act The Department of Health has published guidelines for1983 any child or young person who is: detained in custody in pursuance of any sentence transferring to and from hospital under the Mental Health Act or order for detention; or remanded in custody or who is otherwise detained in custody.
16/08/2011 Childhood maltreatment linked to depression The Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has found that individuals who experienced childhood maltreatment are twice as likely as those without a history of childhood maltreatment to develop both multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes. People who have experienced maltreatment as children are twice as likely to develop both multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes as those without a history of childhood maltreatment, according to a new study. The research, led by a team at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, also found that maltreated individuals are more likely to respond poorly to pharmacological and psychological treatment for depression. The results emerged from a combined analysis of 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 20,000 participants and of 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 participants. Click here for further information.
19/07/2011 Report on the role of the probation service The House of Commons Justice Committee has published a report on the role of the probation service. The report, for which the Centre provided evidence, warns that the Government's proposals for opening up probation services to competition need further thought.
14/07/2011 A new online resource resource to help people return to work after mental illness The Royal College of Psychiatrists has launched Work and Mental Health, a website that offers information and guidance about returning to work after a period of mental ill-health. Developed by a multiprofessional working group, and in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, the website is divided into four main parts, and is aimed at workers, carers, employers and clinicians. Each section signposts relevant information and provides useful links to resources from other organisations. Work and Mental Health explains how work can be good for people’s mental health and well-being – and can play a positive part in people’s recovery. It shows how employers may provide effective support at work for people with a history of mental ill-health, and how clinicians can support people returning to work. To find out more about supporting people with mental health problems back into employment visit the employment section of our website here
04/07/2011 New study finds no evidence that crisis resolution and home treatment teams have any impact of psychiatric admissions Crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) teams were introduced in England throughout 2000 and 2001 and a number of studies have been published since then which have shown that they are associated with reductions in inpatient admissions. This new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry used data from a previous national study for 229 primary care trusts (PCTs) between 1998/99 and 2003/04. The authors used what they refer to as a: "robust policy evaluation methodology to simultaneously examine temporal changes (PCTs before versus after the introduction of CRHT teams) and cross-sectional changes (PCTs with and without CRHT teams)." The research team found no significant differences in admissions between PCTs with and without CRHT teams, after controlling for confounding factors. Read the abstract on PubMed online here
23/06/2011 Mental health problems trigger strongest prejudice, WHO report finds Although one in four people will experience some sort of mental health problems during the course of their lives, users or ex-users of mental health services were found to be the most discriminated and stigmatized of all disabled people, often with deadly consequences. The World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Disability, the first major publication of its kind, gave an important account of the plight of people with mental health problems all over the world. The WHO found (ex-) users of mental health services to have a lower life expectancy and more chronic health conditions than the general population. People with long term mental health problems were more likely to be obese and have heart disease, high blood pressure, respiratory disease, diabetes, strokes, or breast cancer. They were also more prone to developing chronic health conditions at a younger age, and to dying sooner after diagnosis. Read the full report here
08/06/2011 Web campaign to tackle discrimination in the media A new campaign, WordsMatter has been set up to establish a systematic process for encouraging people to praise good, and criticise poor reporting on mental health issues. It comprises a web-based service which alerts subscribers to selected items, giving them the opportunity to contact the media concerned through the website.
07/06/2011 People with mental illness are 11% more likely to die after cardiac events than the rest of the population A new meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has found that people with mental health problems are significantly less likely to receive important cardiac treatment (revascularisation, angiography, angioplasty and bypass grafting) following a cardiac event. A systematic search and random effects meta-analysis was conducted by Dr Alex Mitchell from the Department of Liaison Psychiatry at Leicester Royal Infirmary, who identified 22 analyses of possible inequalities in coronary procedures in those with defined mental disorder, of which 10 also reported results in schizophrenia or related psychosis. You can read the abstract online here
07/06/2011 Study shows people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can have a significantly reduced life expectancy The research, carried out at the Biomedical Research Centre for mental health at the Maudsley Hospital in London and published in the online journal PLoS ONE, found that people suffering from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can have a life expectancy 10 to 15 years lower than the UK average. Researchers examined the electronic medical records of 30,000 people suffering from specific mental illnesses like schizophrenia, serious depression and bipolar disorder, or those being treated for substance misuse. They found that many were dying early from heart attack, stroke and cancer rather than suicide or violence. You can view the report here
07/06/2011 Sean Duggan responds to Guardian feature on IPP sentencing Sean Duggan, joint chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health, responds to the Guardian's feature on a young man held on an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence without access to appropriate treatment for his bipolar disorder. The letter highlights the disproportionate number of people with mental health problems who are serving indeterminate sentences and are not receiving proper support. You can read the rest of the letter here.
01/06/2011 Open letter to the Guardian from the Centre and other leading Mental Health experts Open letter to Guardian suggesting changes to the welfare system are having 'devastating' impact, driving some to suicide attempts. The letters calls for a shift towards a more sympathetic and supportive system which takes into account the additional challenges people with mental health problems may face. You can read the letter here.
12/04/2011 NICE quality standard for depression NICE has launched a new quality standard for depression, which should enable: Health and social care professionals to make decisions about care based on the latest evidence and best practice. Patients to understand what service they can expect from their health and social care providers. NHS Trusts to quickly and easily examine the clinical performance of their organisation and assess the standards of care they provide Commissioners to be confident that the services they are providing are high quality and cost effective
08/04/2011 Good Practice: the transfer of prisoners under the Mental Health Act The Department of Health has published this replacement good practice procedure guide for transferring and remitting remand, Immigration Act detainees to and from inpatient treatment under the Mental Health Act. Some prisoners have experienced delays in the process to transfer them to hospital. The aim of this good practice procedure is to facilitate timely access to treatment under the Mental Health Act and reduce the likelihood of these delays.
06/04/2011 Count me in 2010 The Care Quality Commission has published the last Count Me In report, which presents the results of the 2010 national census of inpatients and patients on supervised community treatment in mental health and learning disability services in England and Wales. It calls for organisations outside of the healthcare sector to help improve mental health and wellbeing among black and ethnic minority people.
30/03/2011 Detained patients give their views on the mental health tribunal process A ground-breaking report is published today on the experiences of patients who appealed to a tribunal against their detention under the Mental Health Act. First-hand information has been obtained for the first time from patients of their personal experiences of appearing before the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health), formerly the Mental Health Review Tribunal. The report finds that patients’ experiences of tribunals were diverse, ranging from positive to strongly negative and that delays are a substantial factor in many patients’ negative experiences of the tribunal process.
09/03/2011 Public mental health and well-being: the local perspective The NHS Confederation has published a new report, Public mental health and wellbeing – the local perspective, which examines local leaders’ perceptions of public mental health and wellbeing, the progress they have made, how they are acting on recent evidence, and how addressing mental illness and improving mental wellbeing go hand in hand. There is growing evidence to show the positive impact that improving mental wellbeing can have on health and social and economic outcomes, but little is known about how this important and emerging agenda is developing within localities.
28/02/2011 Personal budgets: learning from the experiences of people with mental health problems This report presents findings from research into the experiences of using personal budgets for older people, people with mental health problems and their carers, with suggestions for good practice and future improvement.
17/02/2011 No health without mental health: a briefing from the NHS Confederation The NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network has produced this briefing, which summarises the strategy’s six objectives and describes how progress will be measured. It also outlines further work to support implementation, which will be taken forward over the next year and beyond.
07/02/2011 Family breakdown is a key factor driving in costs of mental illness This survey by the Centre for Social Justice puts the cost to the nation of mental illness at £105 billion and finds that family breakdown in all its forms is strongly associated with poor mental health in adults and children, yet go unacknowledged in the Government’s mental health strategy launched last week. The role such breakdown plays in causing these problems is frequently overlooked by experts. The report also calls for treatment to be more focused on helping the whole family unit as a way of preventing mental illness among children.
02/02/2011 No health without mental health - the government's mental health strategy The Government today published a Mental Health Strategy, No Health Without Mental Health, setting out its six key objectives to improve mental health in England and the lives of people with mental health problems. It also published a Call to Action in support of the strategy. Centre for Mental Health is among the signatories to the Call to Action and supports the six objectives in the strategy. Read our response and the Future Vision Coalition's response.
01/02/2011 Facts and questions for Local Authorities about Supporting People Supporting People services offer people with a range of needs, including mental health problems, homelessness and substance misuse, assistance to live independently. Supporting People funding is given by central Government to local authorities and pays for services such as 'floating support' which gives people with multiple needs practical help to maintain their tenancies and manage their daily lives. The Centre is part of a group of charities and other national organisations that has come together to raise concerns about proposals for sharp reductions in Supporting People services in some local authorities. Our joint briefing paper sets out why Supporting People services provide good value for money and what local authorities can do to avoid making cuts that will incur far greater costs in the future.
19/01/2011 Mental Health Act 1983 - proposed amendments in the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 The Health and Social Care Bill currently before Parliament includes a number of proposed small amendments to the Mental Health Act. This letter from Bruce Calderwood, Director of Mental Health and Disability, outlines these changes.
04/01/2011 An evaluation of six community mental health pilots for veterans of the Armed Forces This publication is the result of an independent evaluation into the Community Veterans Mental Health Pilots. The report suggests that care specialists with knowledge of the armed forces should be used to support veterans with mental health conditions.
30/11/2010 Healthy lives, healthy people White Paper: public health in England The Government has published the White Paper that sets out its long-term vision for the future of public health in England. It proposes that local authorities commission public health services from a ring-fenced budget. Mental health is a factor in their public health thinking.
25/11/2010 NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare The Department of Health has published an Atlas of variations in the NHS. It shows variations in the NHS across England and contains three mental health-related maps (from p34 in the PDF) on suicide rates, expenditure and rates of Incapacity Benefit claimants with mental health needs (p38 in the PDF).
22/11/2010 Government progresses plans for Armed Forces mental health The Ministry of Defence and Department for Health announced that along with Armed Forces charity Combat Stress, they would continue to work together to move forward recommendations from the Fighting Fit report into military mental health produced by former Royal Navy doctor, Andrew Murrison MP. Work is already underway on delivering a dedicated 24-hour support line for veterans, and we are working closely with Combat Stress and other service charities to ensure that veterans receive the care that they deserve.
17/11/2010 Briefing on Health, work and well-being in the NHS This briefing from NHS Employers helps senior managers in the NHS make staff health and well-being part of their organisation’s culture and embed it into their policies. It also examines the business case for improving staff health and well-being and sets out what trusts need to do to help meet the challenge of achieving £555 million in savings on sickness absence.
04/11/2010 More help for disadvantaged families Twice as many disadvantaged families and new mums and dads will get help from a programme of Family Nurse Partnerships which provides intensive support and home visits from early pregnancy until a child is two years old, the Health Secretary has announced. So far, around 6,000 families in England have benefitted from Family Nurse Partnerships. The Government is committed to doubling that number by 2015.
26/10/2010 New report shows why public health strategies cannot ignore mental health The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has published a compelling bank of evidence showing why public health strategies cannot afford to ignore mental health. The position statement, No health without public mental health: the case for action, shows that: People with a mental disorder smoke almost half of all tobacco consumed in the UK and account for almost half of all smoking-related deaths. Depression doubles the risk of developing coronary heart disease. People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder die an average 20 years earlier than the general population, largely owing to physical health problems. People with two or more long-term physical illnesses have a 7 times greater risk of depression. Children from the poorest households have a three-fold greater risk of mental ill health than children from the richest households. In the position statement, the RCPsych calls on the Coalition government to make a series of important policy changes, including: Tackling substance addiction through a minimum alcohol pricing policy and an evidence-based addictions policy. Prioritising mental health within smoking cessation programmes. Targeting public mental health interventions for people at higher risk, for example children in care and those who are unemployed or homeless. Promoting the importance of mental health and well-being in older age.
05/10/2010 More people with mental health problems are being made subject to compulsory care In a new report from The NHS Information Centre, the latest figures for 2009/10 show that 16,622 patients were detained in hospital at the end of the year, an increase of 3.4 per cent from last year. Taken together with the number of people subject to Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) (3,325 at 31 March 2010), these figures highlight growing use of the Mental Health Act to address the needs of people with mental health problems.
04/10/2010 Equality Act 2010 - affects employers and employees and service users The Equality Act 2010 has now become law. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced guidance for employers, workers, service providers and service users on what the new parts of the Act will mean for them. There are nine protected characteristics for employees: Disability Gender reassignment Marriage or civil partnership Pregnancy and maternity Race Religion or belief Sexual orientation Sex (gender) Age Further useful information is available on the Mind website.
14/09/2010 Latest CQC survey of people using community mental health services The Care Quality Commission has published the latest survey of the views of people who use community mental health services in England. People were generally very positive about the health and social care workers they had seen most recently for their mental health condition. But many reported that they had not been involved as much as they would have liked in some aspects of their care. Nearly half of those surveyed did not know who to contact in a crisis outside normal office hours.
02/09/2010 Care services minister outlines revised mental health strategy In an exclsuive article in Community Care, Paul Burstow has outlined the link between poor mental health and poverty. "Poor mental health is often a key link in that 'miserable chain of inevitability' linking family breakdown, worklessness, drug and alcohol abuse and crime with long-term poverty and exclusion." "In the months ahead, ministers from the Department of Health and across government will reshape mental health strategy to set clear outcomes and offer a roadmap for delivering them." The Future Vision Coalition has responded to this news.
02/09/2010 Care services minister outlines revised mental health strategy In an exclsuive article in Community Care, Paul Burstow has outlined the link between poor mental health and poverty. "Poor mental health is often a key link in that 'miserable chain of inevitability' linking family breakdown, worklessness, drug and alcohol abuse and crime with long-term poverty and exclusion." "In the months ahead, ministers from the Department of Health and across government will reshape mental health strategy to set clear outcomes and offer a roadmap for delivering them." The Future Vision Coalition has responded to this news.
16/07/2010 2009/10 National Survey of Investment in Adult Mental Health Services The Department of Health has published the ninth annual report presenting the results of the finance mapping exercise. It provides details of the level of investment in mental health services for working age adults (aged 18-64) in England for 2009/10 and compares it with the reported results in previous years.
13/07/2010 Mental Health Alliance issues first review of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Important safeguards designed to protect vulnerable people from being deprived of their liberty inappropriately are not being properly implemented, according to a new report released today from the Mental Health Alliance.
12/07/2010 The Coalition Government's NHS white paper The Secretary of State for Health has published his white paper on the NHS - Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS. It proposes a major restructuring of the organisation in England. The Department of Health is consulting on how best to implement these changes and would welcome comments on the implementation of the proposals requiring primary legislation. Comments should be sent by 5 October 2010.
12/07/2010 The Coalition Government's NHS white paper The Secretary of State for Health has published his white paper on the NHS - Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS. It proposes a major restructuring of the organisation in England. The Department of Health is consulting on how best to implement these changes and would welcome comments on the implementation of the proposals requiring primary legislation. Comments should be sent by 5 October 2010.
25/06/2010 Maximising resources in adult mental health The Audit Commission has published a new efficiency briefing on maximising resources in adult mental health. It asks what scope there is for improving the efficiency of the acute care pathway in adult mental health, while maximising quality.
25/06/2010 Maximising resources in adult mental health The Audit Commission has published a new efficiency briefing on maximising resources in adult mental health. It asks what scope there is for improving the efficiency of the acute care pathway in adult mental health, while maximising quality.
10/06/2010 What to expect if your rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act The Care Quality Commission has produced new guidance on the rights of people detained in hospital, made subject to community treatment orders and also outlined the role of our commissioners. If you or somebody close to you has their rights restricted under the Mental Health Act, you may find the advice useful.
08/04/2010 Paths to Personalisation - a whole system, whole life framework NMHDU has published a guide to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs. The guide provides information about what personalisation means for mental health services and supports, offers examples of what needs to be in place to make things work, and provides pointers to good practice and sources of advice and information.
08/04/2010 Paths to Personalisation - a whole system, whole life framework NMHDU has published a guide to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs. The guide provides information about what personalisation means for mental health services and supports, offers examples of what needs to be in place to make things work, and provides pointers to good practice and sources of advice and information.
08/04/2010 Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for mental well-being Following on from the recent publication of New Horizons, the government has published Confident Communities, Brighter Futures. The report highlights early intervention and prevention through programmes such as psychological therapies, healthy workplaces and initiatives to reduce workplace stress, as well as education and lifelong learning to promote well-being and resilience. By encouraging the inclusion of mental well-being in joint strategic needs assessments, it strongly supports the case for how they link to commissioning priorities in local area agreements.
08/04/2010 Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for mental well-being Following on from the recent publication of New Horizons, the government has published Confident Communities, Brighter Futures. The report highlights early intervention and prevention through programmes such as psychological therapies, healthy workplaces and initiatives to reduce workplace stress, as well as education and lifelong learning to promote well-being and resilience. By encouraging the inclusion of mental well-being in joint strategic needs assessments, it strongly supports the case for how they link to commissioning priorities in local area agreements.
08/04/2010 Attitudes to mental illness 2010 This year's Attitudes to Mental Illness survey results are out. People are broadly sympathetic towards people with a mental illness. And, as usual, some attitudes are worse than in 1994 whilst a number have improved.
08/04/2010 Attitudes to mental illness 2010 This year's Attitudes to Mental Illness survey results are out. People are broadly sympathetic towards people with a mental illness. And, as usual, some attitudes are worse than in 1994 whilst a number have improved.
11/02/2010 The state of health care and adult social care - report from CQC The Care Quality Commission has published its first annual report to parliament on the on the state of health care and adult social care. It says that services have steadily improved overall but rising demand and pressure on finances make reform essential. The Commission applauds overall improvements over recent years, but cautions that some services were lagging behind the pack and that there were areas of common concern across health and social care, notably keeping people safe and staff training.
11/02/2010 The state of health care and adult social care - report from CQC The Care Quality Commission has published its first annual report to parliament on the on the state of health care and adult social care. It says that services have steadily improved overall but rising demand and pressure on finances make reform essential. The Commission applauds overall improvements over recent years, but cautions that some services were lagging behind the pack and that there were areas of common concern across health and social care, notably keeping people safe and staff training.
17/12/2009 The NHS operating framework for England for 2010/11 The Department of Health has published the operating framework for the NHS for 2010/11 which sets out their priorities for the year ahead. For the third year in a row, the national priorities in the operating framework remain the same. It suggests steps that NHS organisations can take to implement the Boorman Review (p. 19) and references the Bradley report (p. 48) as a way to support PCTs in understanding and addressing the needs of offenders.
10/12/2009 New guide for mental health commissioners published Commissioning high quality modern mental health services presents real challenges - but help is at hand for commissioners in a new guide. NMHDU's Commissioning Friend for Mental Health Services is designed to support primary care trusts and local authorities and assist them in developing their mental health commissioning practice.
10/12/2009 New guide for mental health commissioners published Commissioning high quality modern mental health services presents real challenges - but help is at hand for commissioners in a new guide. NMHDU's Commissioning Friend for Mental Health Services is designed to support primary care trusts and local authorities and assist them in developing their mental health commissioning practice.
10/12/2009 NHS 2010 - 2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive This is the new five-year plan to reshape the NHS to meet the challenge of delivering high quality health care in a tough financial environment. The report describes practical measures to meet the demands of an aging population and the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases. The vision is for an NHS that is organised around patients whether at home, in a community setting or in hospital. There will be a renewed focus on prevention with the ambition of delivering cost-effective high quality care across the service.
10/12/2009 NHS 2010 - 2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive This is the new five-year plan to reshape the NHS to meet the challenge of delivering high quality health care in a tough financial environment. The report describes practical measures to meet the demands of an aging population and the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases. The vision is for an NHS that is organised around patients whether at home, in a community setting or in hospital. There will be a renewed focus on prevention with the ambition of delivering cost-effective high quality care across the service.
08/12/2009 New Horizons strategy launched The government has published New Horizons: a shared vision for mental health. It is the successor to the National Service Framework in that it sets out the ‘blue-print’ for English mental health services in the future. The strategy seeks to improve services and help prevent people developing mental illness. Its three main priorities are: Better prevention Better treatment, including for women with post-natal depression, ex-servcemen and older people Reducing the impact of mental health conditions – reducing stigma and suicide prevention
08/12/2009 New Horizons strategy launched The government has published New Horizons: a shared vision for mental health. It is the successor to the National Service Framework in that it sets out the ‘blue-print’ for English mental health services in the future. The strategy seeks to improve services and help prevent people developing mental illness. Its three main priorities are: Better prevention Better treatment, including for women with post-natal depression, ex-servcemen and older people Reducing the impact of mental health conditions – reducing stigma and suicide prevention
08/12/2009 Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action This is the new cross-government national mental health and employment strategy. It addresses wellbeing at work for everyone and better employment outcomes for people with mental health conditions, both in and out of work. This practical framework sets out a series of commitments from government and what it expects from health professionals, employers, organisations and individuals. It identifies 6 key areas for action: Changing attitudes to mental health Improving health and wellbeing at work Early intervention Tailoring support (individualised) in and out of work Building resilience from early years Coordinating action across government A companion guide to the strategy is available from SHIFT.
23/11/2009 NHS Health & Well-being Review by Steve Boorman: the final report The Final Report of the independent NHS Health & Well-being Review reiterates the business case for change laid out in the Interim Report, and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations for improvement in provision of health and well-being across the NHS. The Department of Health has also published the Government’s response to this report, setting out how it intends to implement the review’s recommendations.
23/11/2009 NHS Health & Well-being Review by Steve Boorman: the final report The Final Report of the independent NHS Health & Well-being Review reiterates the business case for change laid out in the Interim Report, and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations for improvement in provision of health and well-being across the NHS. The Department of Health has also published the Government’s response to this report, setting out how it intends to implement the review’s recommendations.
16/10/2009 Guidance on confidentiality The GMC has published some guidance on confidentiality. It sets out the principles of confidentiality and respect for patients' privacy that doctors are expected to understand and follow. It covers such issues as disclosing information in the public interest, sometimes without a patient's consent.
24/09/2009 2009 survey of mental health acute inpatient services The Care Quality Commission has published its 2009 survey of people who had recently had an inpatient stay for acute mental health problems. The survey asked people all about their experiences of services. It found that: 86% reported having physical health checks in hospital – but only 44% of those with physical health problems ‘definitely’ felt that enough care was taken of theses. The survey showed limited access to talking therapies, with 29% receiving these overall and less than half of those who wanted talking therapies getting them. There was a lack of activities available for inpatients, with 35% saying that there was too little to do on weekdays and over half (54%) reporting that there were not enough activities available to them at weekends or evenings. Patients were often not involved in their care as much as they wanted to be, with 34% saying that they were “definitely” involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment. Many patients felt that they were not given understandable explanations about their care and treatment,– 48% said that the potential side effects of medicines that they were prescribed whilst in hospital were not explained to them in a way they could understand.
17/09/2009 Seeing Double: Meeting the challenge of dual diagnosis This report, by NMHDU, looks at the challenges posed to the NHS by people who have either developed problems with alcohol or drugs because of a pre-existing mental health condition, or have had a mental health condition caused by misusing alcohol or drugs. It addresses the way provision of services for mental health and drug and alcohol misuse have developed separately and looks at how stronger links between the two, along with better workforce development and awareness, can provide a better service and potentially save money.
09/09/2009 Information sharing and mental health Guidance from the Department of Health that sets out some of the issues relating to the exchange of information between mental health trusts and outside organisations and individuals.
09/09/2009 Information sharing and mental health Guidance from the Department of Health that sets out some of the issues relating to the exchange of information between mental health trusts and outside organisations and individuals.
23/07/2009 New Horizons: towards a shared vision for mental health - consultation The government has published New Horizons, its' consultation on the future of mental health policy after the National Service Framework. The consultation is open until 15 October 2009.
23/07/2009 New Horizons: towards a shared vision for mental health - consultation The government has published New Horizons, its' consultation on the future of mental health policy after the National Service Framework. The consultation is open until 15 October 2009.
21/07/2009 Coercion and consent: monitoring the Mental Health Act 2007-2009 The Mental Health Act Commission has published a final report on the Mental Health Act and the care provided to people detained under the Act. The report claims that while there were good examples of people receiving good care during their visits to services there were variation across services. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a response (also at the link above).
01/07/2009 Age-appropriate services for patients under 18 The NMHDU has published a briefing to support commissioners of both adult and child and adolescent mental health services to prepare to accommodate patients under 18 in a suitable hospital environment. The Government has committed to commencing this duty in April 2010, with the purpose of preventing the inappropriate admission of children and young people to adult psychiatric wards.
31/03/2009 Follow-up review of adult specialist community mental health services This report sets out the overall results of the follow-up of the review of NHS adult specialist community mental health services in England. The report explores the extent to which services have improved since the original review in 2005/06. It provides recommendations aimed at all staff working in specialist community mental health services.
22/10/2008 Foresight Project's Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project The outputs of the Foresight report have been published. The project was looking at the future challenges in mental health and wellbeing. We contributed to the Scientific evidence on employment in SR-B9: Factors influencing recovery from serious mental illness and enhancing participation in family, social and working life.
18/09/2008 Improvements made in mental health care A Healthcare Commission survey of people using community mental health services has shown continued improvements in care. A larger percentage of service users say that they have confidence in mental health professionals, receive copies of their care plan and have a number to contact out-of-hours when in a crisis situation. The survey also shows there is still some way to go before community mental health services are accessible to all people who need them and include all service users in decisions about their care.
28/07/2008 Review of the NHS acute inpatient mental health services This report by the Healthcare Commission says the quality of the services varies widely across the country. It identifies areas for action, particularly improving the involvement of patients in their care. It concludes that better co-ordination is needed to ensure that service users do not spend any longer in hospital than necessary and are supported when they move from hospital to community services.
15/02/2008 National audit of violence in mental health units This is the second national audit of violence in mental health services conducted on behalf of the Healthcare Commission by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. There are about 30,000 in-patients in mental health units in NHS and independent organisations in England and Wales. The audit involved 211 units at 69 of those organisations and for the first time looked separately at services for working-age adults and wards for people over 65.
09/01/2008 Support,Time and Recovery (STR) Workers - updated guidance The Department of Health has published a new handbook that reports on the progress of the STR implementation programme and updates the original 2003 policy implementation guide.
Helping employees who become severely depressed What can employers do to create healthy productive workforces and manage the mental distress which will always be present and affecting their businesses? Together with Helen Lockett of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, the Centre's Bob Grove and Jan Hutchinson have written a useful article that outlines the steps businesses can take to support employees and reduce the costs assocated with mental ill health. They show that prevention is better than cure and that once a problem is recognised, the sooner action is taken the smaller that problem is likely to be.

17/05/2012
Delirium guidelines updated by NICE

NICE has published an update on its 2010 Guidance on Delirium, Delirium: diagnosis, prevention and management, which highlights new research, including the potential benefits of introducing a risk assessment tool. Around 20% of people on medical wards in hospital are affected by delirium.

11/05/2012
What promotes and hinders joint and integrated working between health and social care services

The Social Care Institute for Excellence has published a briefing that offers an overview of the different models of working between health and social care services at the strategic, commissioning and operational level.

11/05/2012
Study finds the care of people with people with long-term conditions is poorly co-ordinated and inefficient

The health system in the UK is struggling to care for the rising number of people who have two or more chronic illnesses, argues the authors of a study published in The Lancet this week. The authors propose that generalist clinicians who "can oversee all the problems" and provide personalised care would better serve people with multiple conditions.

04/05/2012
Early intervention supported by research revealing the cost of troubled families

In a new report, Out of trouble: Families with complex problems, a guide for funders, New Philanthropy Capital highlights the cost of troubled families. Estimating that the 120,000 most troubled families cost society up to £9bn every year, NPC argues that early intervention is key and that services should be provided before problems are entrenched.

03/05/2012
Contributions sought for the government strategy on long term conditions

The Department of Health is working with other government departments to develop a strategy on long term conditions and is inviting comments via a new long term conditions website, where you can have your say.

30/04/2012
New report by Civitas: What can we do better to reduce offending by drug addicts?
This report by the think tank Civitas focuses on the evidence base for what works in drug rehabilitation, with a particular focus on criminal justice issues. It concludes that the evidence does not conclusively support one particular treatment, but suggests that a diverse range of quality treatments are necessary. The report recognises that it is only in a few cases where drug addiction is the primary motivator for crime and that in most cases successful interventions must address multiple needs, including those relating to mental health, housing or access to employment or training. Read the report here.

26/04/2012
Updated guidelines on treating depression in adults with a chronic health problem
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published an evidence update to its guidelines, Depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem.

20/04/2012
New briefing from NHS Confederation on homelessness and mental health
This briefing paper sets out the policy context around tackling homelessness and addressing the mental health needs of homeless people. It also examines what considerations need to be made when planning, designing and delivering mental health services for homeless people and highlights examples of good practice.

19/04/2012
Study finds there is insufficient evidence to recommend first line treatment for depression in cancer patients
Researchers at the University of Toronto have reviewed the psychosocial and pharmacologic treatment of depression in patients with cancer, reports The mental elf. While depression is at least three times as common in patients with cancer compared to the rest of the population, it was found that there is insufficient evidence to recommend first line treatment for depression for cancer patients.

26/03/2012
Government release alcohol strategy
This strategy sets out Government proposals to cut down alcohol fuelled violence and disorder and reduce the number of people drinking to damaging levels. It includes commitments to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol; consult on a ban on the sale of multi-buy alcohol discounting; introduce stronger powers for local areas to control the density of licensed premises; and pilot sobriety schemes to challenge alcohol-related offending. View the strategy on the Home Office website here.

16/03/2012
Final report of the evaluation of the youth justice liaison and diversion pilot scheme
The Department of Health has published its final report of an evaluation of the youth justice liaison and diversion pilot scheme. The report notes that there was universal support for making diversion a more systematic or compulsory element within police practice, and makes 11 eleven policy, practice and research recommendations, including integrating diversion scheme with existing services.

14/03/2012
DWP Social justice strategy published
The Department for Work and Pensions has published a strategy for working with and assisting the most vulnerable individuals and families, Social justice: transforming lives. The Centre welcomes the focus on people with multiple needs and in particular the recognition that there is a group of adults who require support across a range of areas and who are currently falling through the gap in services.

07/03/2012
DWP release Qualitative study of offender employment review: final report
The DWP's Qualitative study of offender employment review: final report identifies how well key recommendations have been implemented ‘on the ground’ in both custodial and community settings; and assesses the extent to which changes have begun to improve offender employment services.

07/03/2012
Access to Work programme will be 'more efficient' -Government publishes response to disability and employment consultation
The Government have now published their response to the consultation "Disability employment Support: fulfilling potential" on 7 March 2012. This response sets out the strategy for specialist disability employment programmes and includes a summary of the responses to the public consultation of the Sayce Review "Getting in, staying in and getting on”. In the response the Government has pledged to make the Access to Work programme more efficient and to 'place more control in the hands of individuals.'

06/03/2012
Improving Physical and Mental Health website launched
The new Improving Physical and Mental Health website gives psychiatrists easy access to tools ensure their patients receive the physical healthcare they need as part of their recovery. Created with leadership from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and with the support of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the website signposts a manageable selection of key resources, including clinical guidance, screening and monitoring tools, information on service models, and further reading. Its content has been reviewed by panels of clinicians drawn from several Royal Colleges, who will continue to update and develop the site on an ongoing basis.

06/03/2012
Lord Layard calls for mental health minister at Cabinet level
Labour peer Richard Layard will argue that mental health is all too often overlooked by policy makers and should represent a "sixth pillar" of the welfare state. Read more here

02/03/2012
Consultation on statistics produced from Mental Health Minimum Datasets (MHMDS)
The Health and Social Care Information Centre is consulting on what measures and administrative breakdowns should be provided in regular statistics and data extracts from the Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS). A new version of MHMDS (version 4) provides a richer data source than before, with potential for new analyses, and The Health and Social Care Information Centre are seeking to find out what users of the data would find most useful. Complete the consultation online here.

01/03/2012
Mental health charity launches free tool to help mental health professionals address the physical health needs of the people they support
People with severe mental illness die on average 20 years younger than the general population, often from preventable physical illnesses. Rethink Mental Illness has developed a range of free resources to support mental health professionals in addressing the physical health needs of the people they support.

The Physical Health Check assesses and identifies key physical health concerns. It enables health professionals and people affected by mental illness to develop plans together to address any unmet physical health needs and include a free, easy-to-use e-learning training package, designed to highlight the key physical health risks that affect people with mental illness.

Download the resources here.

01/03/2012
People with mental illness are four times more likely to be victims of violence, report finds
Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University and the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that people with mental illness are four times more likely to be victims of violence.

This alarming statistic is based on a review of research looking at how often people with a range of disabilities had experienced violence in the previous year, and how this compared with non-disabled people. After combining the results of 26 previous studies, researchers found that more than 24% of those with a mental illness had been physically attacked in the previous year, as had more than 6% of people with intellectual impairments and more than 3% of people with all types of disability. People with disabilities were generally more at risk of violence than non-disabled individuals.

Read the abstract on the Lancet here.

01/03/2012
Centre welcomes Health Bill change on aftercare
The Centre welcomes the Government's agreement to an amendment to the Health Bill during the report stage in the House of Lords yesterday. A coalition of mental health organisations, including the Centre, had jointly argued that the proposed change to Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, detailed in Clause 39 of the Health Bill, would have altered NHS and social services’ duty to provide aftercare provision. While the amendment proposed by Lord Patel of Bradford was accepted unopposed by the Government, some technicalities remain to be resolved. The Hansard record of the debate can be read here.

20/02/2012
Question tabled in Scottish Parliament on Centre and Kings Fund report on Long term Conditions
Alison McInnes MP asked the Scottish Executive, in light of the findings of the King's Fund report, Long-term conditions and mental health: The cost of co-morbidities, what assessment it has made of NHS spend on mental health problems in people with long-term conditions. You can download the report here

08/02/2012
New commissioning guides for high quality mental health services

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has published four guides to help current and future commissioners plan and deliver high quality mental health services. The guides describe what good quality, modern mental health services should look like and bring together scientific evidence, patient and carer experience and viewpoints, and examples of best practice.

07/02/2012
Personal Independence Payment- survey for joint consultation response
Together with MIND, Mental Health Foundation, SAMH, Royal College of Psychatrists and Rethink mental iIllness the centre are looking for people who are recieiving Disability Living Allowance because of a mental health problem, or a mixture of mental and physical health problems, to complete a short survey. Our organisations are worried about how the switch to the new benefit will impact on people with mental health problems and we will be expressing these concerns in a joint response to the Government's consultation on the proposed changes. You can help us to ensure that this consultation response is as informed and powerful as possible by completing the survey below if you are currently claiming DLA, or by passing this on to someone you know who does. Take the survey here: http://surveymonkey.com/s/pip-mentalhealth

02/02/2012
Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) - NICE Consultation- closes 29 February
As part of the process to develop a Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) that measures the health outcomes and quality of care achieved by clinical commissioning groups, NICE is encouraging organisations, groups and individuals in England to comment on potential new indicators.

The indicators have been recommended by the COF Advisory Committee, as well as a number based on the NHS Outcomes Framework, and an additional list identified by the NHS Information Centre.

This document includes one set of indicators for the new CCGs to measure their performance proposed for use from April 2013 and a further set that could be developed in the future.

To view the potential indicators (including indicators for mental health) and participate in the consultation visit this webpage: http://www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/cof/ConsultationOnCOFIndicators.jsp

The consultation will close at 5pm on Wednesday 29 February 2012.

02/02/2012
Briefing notes on government amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill: Lords report stage
This briefing outlines the amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, as proposed by the government. You can download the briefing here

01/02/2012
Health Work and Wellbeing resource for business launched
Health, Work and Well-being is a cross-Government initiative to 'protect and improve the health and well-being of working age people'. The initiative promotes the positive links between health and work and aims to help more people with health conditions to find and stay in employment. It brings together employers, trade unions, healthcare professionals and other partners and builds on a growing evidence base that working is good for health.

01/02/2012
Defining Mental Health Services, new report from NHS Confed
The lack of a consistent set of definitions that describe what is meant by an inpatient bed has led to difficulty in benchmarking and understanding patterns of performance. The NHS Confederation has published definitions for mental health inpatient services Defining Mental Health Services, which will enable decision making about service redesign to be more consistent, based on a set of definitions that are well understood and accepted across the system.

23/01/2012
Helping employees who become severely depressed: new article by Centre's Bob Grove, Helen Lockett and Jan Hutchinson
Depression, anxiety and related problems are very common indeed - in the UK about one in six workers have levels of distress that doctors would diagnose as illness. This article, published in the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation's newsletter, sets out the ways in which employers can create healthy productive workforces and manage the mental distress. Read the article online here.

18/01/2012
How the police can improve services for people with a mental illness
Newly appointed as lead on mental health and disability at the Assocation of Chief Police Officers, Simon Cole, Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary, has written a blog on the challenges faced by police to improve services for those with mental health issues or disabilities.

11/01/2012
Troops charity Forces in Mind launched to help veterans with mental illness
Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) has been given £35m from the lottery and partnership support from the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry.

Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) is a grouping of charities and mental health organisations, led by the Confederation of Service Charities. The FIMT aims to provide UK-wide long-term support and advice - over the next 20 years - to ex-service personnel adjusting back into everyday life after experiencing action on the front line. The trust will help soliders suffering from poor mental health, family breakdown and alcohol-related problems.

Read Across the Wire, a report from the Centre on veterans and mental health here

09/01/2012
People with mental health problems will be unfairly affected by proposed changes to the DLA, report finds
A report entirely written, researched, funded, and supported by sick and disabled people, their friends and carers Responsible Reform: A Report on the proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance has concluded that Government’s response to the DLA consultation presented a highly misleading view of the responses it received. It also finds that due to the fluctuating nature of mental illness, people who suffer from a mental health problem will be unfairly affected by the introduction of the Personal independence Payment.

Read the Centre's original joint response to the consultation here

09/01/2012
Celebrities pledge to 'Get talking!' and end the silence surrounding mental illness
Time to Change, the anti mental health stigma campaign backed by national mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, have launched a new campaign to encourage people to talk openly about mental illness. Celebrities including Gok Wan and Stephen Fry have publicly pledged to 'get talking' to tackle mental health discrimination. To start a conversation about mental health, either online through social media or face-to-face go to the Time to Change website here.

19/12/2011
NICE publish guidance to 'tackle the stigma associated with mental illness'
New NICE guidance and quality standards aim to ensure users of mental health services have the best possible experience of care from the NHS. This quality standard describes markers of care that should contribute to improving the effectiveness, safety and experience of care for service users.

Download the guidance here

Download the quality standard here

15/12/2011
Sick on the job? Myths and realities about mental health and work
A new report, Sick on the job? published by the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) finds further evidence to support a shift in focus towards on treating common mental health problems and recommends that people with depression and anxiety problems should be supported to stay in work.

Read the report summary here

15/12/2011
NICE calls for NHS adult services to provide person-centred care
The National Institute for Health and Clinical excellence (NICE) has urged for an improvement in NHS adult mental health services, calling for person-centred care that tackles the stigma associated with mental illness.

Read the NICE recommendations here

12/12/2011
Half of all people with mental health problems are living below the poverty line
Half of all people with mental health problems are living below the poverty line, according to a new report from Mind.

More than three fifths of all respondents, and three quarters of those in problem debt, reported often feeling confused about their finances.

People with mental health problems are three times more likely to be in debt than the general population. Three quarters of the 900 people who participated in Mind's Still in the Red survey said their illness had made their debt worse.

Read more here

08/12/2011
Good housing critical for good mental health, NHS Confed report finds
The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network has published a report, Housing and Mental Health, that stresses how a settled home is vital for good mental health, and how support with housing can improve the health of individuals, thus reducing the overall demand for health and social care services.

08/12/2011
NHS Confed briefing calls for outcomes based implementation framework for mental health strategy
In response to the coalition government's call for a focus on outcomes rather tragets, the NHS Confederation Mental Health Network has published a briefing that sets out the policy context for outcomes in mental health and stresses the need to develop an implementation framework in support of the mental health strategy. Read the briefing here.

08/12/2011
Care Quality Commission publish Mental Health Act Annual Report 2010/11
The Care Quality Commission has published the second annual report on the Mental Health Act. The report presents findings on the use of the Act and indicates areas where improvement is needed.

You can download the report here.

02/12/2011
Royal College of Psychiatrists launches workplace web resource
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has launched an online work and mental health resource offering information and guidance on staying in work or returning to work after a period of mental ill-health. The site links to resources from organisations such as Mind, Rethink, Centre for Mental Health and the Health and Safety Executive and deals with important day-to-day matters such as benefits and the Equality Act (2010).

View the page here

01/12/2011
People with mental illness 'still live 15-20 years less'
The continued disparity in the mortality rate between people with mental disorders and the rest of the population is revealed in a new study published in the December issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Research from Denmark, Finland and Sweden shows that the life expectancy gap has remained largely unchanged over the last 20 years – despite changes to the provision of mental health services and improvements in public healthcare.

28/11/2011
Mental health discrimination bill passes second reading
Lord Stevenson’s mental health discrimination bill passed its second reading and will go to a committee of the whole House. The bill seeks to remove anachronistic and unnecessary limitations on the opportunities available to people with a mental health problem.

You can read the Hansard transcript here

28/11/2011
Charles Walker MP tables question on Secure Services on behalf of the Centre
Charles Walker MP asked Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to support the development of step down and community services for people requiring discharge from secure mental health services. Read the minister's reponse on Hansard here.

28/11/2011
NHS Confed publishes Mental health: Payment by Results readiness review
The aim of this review was to provide an assessment of commissioners’ and providers’ readiness to deliver the Department of Health policy commitment that adult mental health Payment by Results currencies should be used for commissioning and reimbursement purposes from April 2012. The review was carried out by seeking the views of a wide spread of people in mental health trusts, commissioners, local authorities and the independent sector, as well as national stakeholders. Read the review here

28/11/2011
Joining in the conversation - NHS Confed report on social media and mental health services
This briefing from the NHS Confed looks at social media innovations underway in healthcare as a whole and highlights case studies from Mental Health Network member organisations. Download the briefing here.

24/11/2011
Centre welcomes the government's decision to abandon plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board

The Centre welcomes the government's decision to abandon plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board, minister Lord McNally announced yesterday. The plan, detailed in the Public Bodies Bill, had met with considerable opposition. The Centre had urged for a separate body independent from the adult system to ensure that young people in the youth justice system are seen as children first and offenders second. The House of Commons Justice Committee published the Tenth report of session 2010–12, The Proposed Abolition of the Youth Justice Board yesterday.

23/11/2011
Calls about childhood aggressive behaviour up 2 per cent says helpline: Family Lives: 2011 Aggression Report

Family Lives’ updated aggression report has found that calls to its Parentline regarding aggressive behaviour have increased by 2% and only 56% of respondents to an online survey had sought help for their child’s problem.

Published as part of the 'Instructions not included campaign', When Family Life Hurts: Family Experience of Aggression in Children reveals that a growing number of parents are seriously concerned about their child's aggression and that many are unsure as to why their children display aggressive behaviour. Family Lives calls for Government to recognise – in addition to early years support - the particular needs of many parents of older children and teenagers.

09/11/2011
Psychiatrists are failing to carry out physical health checks for metabolic complications, report finds
A report from the university of Leicester has found that despite increased cardiometabolic risk in individuals with mental illness taking antipsychotic medication, metabolic screening practices are often incomplete or inconsistent.

The report concluded in routine clinical practice, metabolic monitoring is concerningly low in people prescribed antipsychotic medication. Although guidelines can increase monitoring, most patients still do not receive adequate testing.

View abstract on PubMed

09/11/2011
Centre responds to proposals for a new mandatory power of possession in cases of anti-social behaviour
The Department of Communities and Local Government have recently consulted on the proposal for a new mandatory power of possession to be available to landlords where tenants are involved in serious housing-related anti-social behaviour. Following the riots in August, the Government also proposed an additional discretionary ground for possession to cover certain activity perpetrated anywhere in the UK. At the moment, the discretionary ground for possession is only available where the anti-social or criminal behaviour took place in the person’s locality.

The Centre's response details why do not support these proposals.

View the consultation paper here

08/11/2011
Middle-aged more likely to develop mental health problems on a low income
"An increased prevalence of psychological distress, common mental disorder diagnoses and treatment in midlife is not a universal phenomenon but is found only in those in low-income households. This implies the phenomenon is not inevitable but is potentially manageable or preventable." Researchers from Exeter University claim.

The report Income and the midlife peak in common mental disorder prevalence found that prevalence of psychological distress, diagnoses and treatments rose with age until early middle age and declined subsequently. In analyses conducted separately by income categories, this pattern was marked in low-income groups but absent in high-income groups. Income-related inequalities in the prevalence of psychological distress were greatest in midlife; for example, in men aged 45-54 years the odds ratio of receiving psychiatric medication in the lowest income group compared with the highest was 7.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.24-13.27] and in women aged 45-54 years the odds ratio of reporting mental illness was 10.25 (95% CI 6.16-17.05).

Read more on the Mental Elf blog

Read the report on PubMed

03/11/2011
Secure and High Dependency services remain the largest single area of spend accounting for 19% of expenditure on direct services, DOH report finds
The National Survey of Investment in Adult Mental Health Services, published annually by the Department of Health, has revealed Secure and High Dependency services remain the largest single area of spend accounting for 19% of expenditure on direct services.

The survey, which reports on the level of investment in mental health services, found that total investment increased from £6.323 billion in 2009/10 to £6.550 billion; a 3.6% cash increase and a real increase of 0.7%.

Read the breakdown on the Mental Elf blog

Download the report from the DOH website here

02/11/2011
Public Health England (PHE) must be visibly and operationally independent, say MP's in Health Committee report
The 12th report HC 1048-I & II from the Health Select Committee was was released today with a number of recommendations for a new public health framework.

The report recommends that the Health and Social Care Bill be amended to include a statutory duty on local authorities to address health inequalities:

It highlights the crucial role of public health expertise in the commissioning of NHS services – the Government has said that Directors of Public Health (DsPH) will provide public health expertise, advice and analysis to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) and the NHS Commissioning Board – but the report says this is not enough. It recommends that the local DPH should be a member of the Board of each CCG. There should also be a qualified public health professional on the NHS Commissioning Board, and the Board should routinely take advice from qualified public health professionals when commissioning decisions are being taken.

The Committee are concerned that the involvement of local authorities, Public Health England and the NHS Commissioning Board in various facets of public health commissioning will produce a lack of coordination and cohesion in public health services.

The report also recommends a single, integrated Outcomes Framework for public health, the NHS and adult social care – and is therefore concerned that the NHS and social care Outcomes Framework have been finalised before the framework for public health. http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/committees/recent-reports/

31/10/2011
The rights of people with mental disorders: WPA perspective
The first indisputable right of a person with a mental disorder is to find in the public health system a professional who is able to understand the nature of that disorder. Comment in the Lancet from Mario Maj, President of the World Psychiatric Association

31/10/2011
Centre for Social Justice report finds that 'the most disadvantaged are those who are most likely to lose their liberty because of a lack of basic social support'
A new report, Completing the Revolution, transforming mental health and tackling povery from the Centre for Social Justice found that the 'pathways to poverty' that the CSJ has identified also contribute to the development of poor mental health. the report recommends that those working with the mentallly ill shoud see themselves as integral to the wider social movement to tackle the dirivers and effects of poverty. Read the full report here

31/10/2011
Planned reform of the health care system does nothing to combat loneliness and isolation, report finds
A new report Communities connected: inclusion, participation and common purpose, by Professor David Morris FRSA and Alison Gilchrist set out a series of recommendations for government and health care bodies concluding that by creating a more 'transactional' or impersonal relationship between the users and providers of public services, government reforms will not build or sustain the social networks that are vital for both people's physical and mental health. See the full report here

27/10/2011
Report on bullying in custody: Learning from PPO investigations: violence reduction, bullying and safety
A newly released report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) on the impact of intimidation, violence and bullying on those who take their own lives in prison highlights the steps prison staff need to take to record and share more information about violence and intimidation to improve safety.

The report was produced after it was found that 20% of the PPO’s investigations into self-inflicted deaths in custody found evidence that the deceased was subject to bullying or intimidation by other prisoners in the three months prior to their death. The report finds that in some cases, more reliable and thorough recording of information might have enabled a clearer picture to emerge of the risks and individual faced. In other cases, although information was recorded, it was not shared with those who could have usefully contributed to identifying and alleviating problems. Read the full report here. Read the full report here.

05/10/2011
Give prisoners a better chance to find work, say company chiefs

The leading exectives of eight of the UK’s most prominent companies have urged UK business to offer more jobs to former prisoners and those still in jail. In a recent letter to the Financial Times, the company chiefs call for fellow bosses to take advantage of the skills many ex-offenders can offer; “It makes sense for UK companies to recruit these individuals and to make use of their skills and enthusiasm”. The letter was published on the day that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke announced plans for every prison in England and Wales to start up a profit-making company staffed by inmates.

Acknowledging evidence that re-offending figures are significantly reduced among prison leavers who go into a full-time job upon their release, the business leaders back the government’s efforts to “introduce real work into prison”, so that offenders can learn new skills while behind bars.

19/09/2011
Report released on public transport issues facing people with mental health problems

Access to good public transport can be liberating for those with mental health issues, a new report from the Mental Health Action Group has found. Drawn from the direct experience of sufferers from across the country Mental Health and Public Transport examines both the importance of public transport and its accessibility, and highlights the many factors which affect access, including concessionary fares. The authors make 28 recommendations which, if acted upon, they believe would support the Government’s mental health strategy and help deliver vastly better outcomes for so many people.

15/09/2011
Updated factsheet from NHS Confederation Mental Health Network: 2.3 million people with a mental health condition are on benefits or out of work
The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network have updated their 2009 publication with new information about trends in mental health. The factsheet provides an overview of the prevalence of mental disorders, employment and housing, stigma and discrimination, current NHS spending, service activity, quality, safety and user experience.

The introduction explains: "The overall picture is a mixed one. For example, it is encouraging to see patients spending less time in hospitals –pointing perhaps towards the increasing use of community-based treatments. However, it is concerning that people on a Care Programme Approach do not feel they are getting the support they need in terms of employment, housing and financial advice."

14/09/2011
The prevalence of mental health problems among users of NHS Stop Smoking Services
The absence of standard procedures to record mental health problems among service users in many stop smoking services is currently likely to prevent the detection of co morbidity. A new paper, published by Surrey Primary Care Trust, argues that the implementation of simple screening procedures would ensure services can be tailored and delivered appropriately to the client group.

14/09/2011
Personal health budgets: the views of service users and carers
The NHS Confederation has published a report that examines the views of mental health service users and carers. Personal health budgets: the views of service users and carers outlines the frustration that people feel with the level of involvement that mental health services currently offer, but shows that their opinions of personal health budgets are mixed.

12/09/2011
Homelessness linked to chaotic life experiences and poor mental health

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicates that homelessness is not just a housing issue but is inextricably linked with complex and chaotic life experiences. Tackling homelessness and exclusion highlights the prevalence of mental health issues, traumatic childhood experiences and suicide attempts amongst people accessing low-level homelessness support services.

09/09/2011
Mental disorders affect more than a third of Europeans a year

The European College of Neuropsychcopharmacology has found that more than a third of the population of Europe, some 164 million people, suffer from some sort of a mental disorder each year. The Size and Burden of Mental Disorders in Europe demonstrates the degree to which mental disorders have become Europe’s largest health challenge in the 21st century and that the majority remain untreated.

31/08/2011
PCTs urged to fill alcohol treatment gap in prisons

Commissioners are being urged to extend the range of services on offer for prisoners with alcohol addiction, in light of research suggesting current provision is insufficient. The Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust has found more than a third of prisoners assessed by addiction services – roughly around half of all prisoners undergo an assessment – are “severely dependent on alcohol”.

16/08/2011
Service users challenge personal health budgets

Service users are sceptical about the potential of personal budgets to improve their care according to a new report from the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network Mental health. A range of practical and cultural issues need to be addressed before successful implementation argues the report.

16/08/2011
New DOH guidelines released for transferring children and young people from custody under the Mental Health Act

The Department of Health has published guidelines for1983 any child or young person who is: detained in custody in pursuance of any sentence transferring to and from hospital under the Mental Health Act or order for detention; or remanded in custody or who is otherwise detained in custody.

16/08/2011
Childhood maltreatment linked to depression

The Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has found that individuals who experienced childhood maltreatment are twice as likely as those without a history of childhood maltreatment to develop both multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes.

People who have experienced maltreatment as children are twice as likely to develop both multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes as those without a history of childhood maltreatment, according to a new study. The research, led by a team at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, also found that maltreated individuals are more likely to respond poorly to pharmacological and psychological treatment for depression.

The results emerged from a combined analysis of 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 20,000 participants and of 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 participants. Click here for further information.

19/07/2011
Report on the role of the probation service

The House of Commons Justice Committee has published a report on the role of the probation service. The report, for which the Centre provided evidence, warns that the Government's proposals for opening up probation services to competition need further thought.

14/07/2011
A new online resource resource to help people return to work after mental illness

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has launched Work and Mental Health, a website that offers information and guidance about returning to work after a period of mental ill-health. Developed by a multiprofessional working group, and in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, the website is divided into four main parts, and is aimed at workers, carers, employers and clinicians. Each section signposts relevant information and provides useful links to resources from other organisations. Work and Mental Health explains how work can be good for people’s mental health and well-being – and can play a positive part in people’s recovery. It shows how employers may provide effective support at work for people with a history of mental ill-health, and how clinicians can support people returning to work.

To find out more about supporting people with mental health problems back into employment visit the employment section of our website here

04/07/2011
New study finds no evidence that crisis resolution and home treatment teams have any impact of psychiatric admissions

Crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) teams were introduced in England throughout 2000 and 2001 and a number of studies have been published since then which have shown that they are associated with reductions in inpatient admissions.

This new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry used data from a previous national study for 229 primary care trusts (PCTs) between 1998/99 and 2003/04. The authors used what they refer to as a:

"robust policy evaluation methodology to simultaneously examine temporal changes (PCTs before versus after the introduction of CRHT teams) and cross-sectional changes (PCTs with and without CRHT teams)."

The research team found no significant differences in admissions between PCTs with and without CRHT teams, after controlling for confounding factors.

Read the abstract on PubMed online here

23/06/2011
Mental health problems trigger strongest prejudice, WHO report finds

Although one in four people will experience some sort of mental health problems during the course of their lives, users or ex-users of mental health services were found to be the most discriminated and stigmatized of all disabled people, often with deadly consequences. The World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Disability, the first major publication of its kind, gave an important account of the plight of people with mental health problems all over the world. The WHO found (ex-) users of mental health services to have a lower life expectancy and more chronic health conditions than the general population. People with long term mental health problems were more likely to be obese and have heart disease, high blood pressure, respiratory disease, diabetes, strokes, or breast cancer. They were also more prone to developing chronic health conditions at a younger age, and to dying sooner after diagnosis. Read the full report here

08/06/2011
Web campaign to tackle discrimination in the media
A new campaign, WordsMatter has been set up to establish a systematic process for encouraging people to praise good, and criticise poor reporting on mental health issues. It comprises a web-based service which alerts subscribers to selected items, giving them the opportunity to contact the media concerned through the website.

07/06/2011
People with mental illness are 11% more likely to die after cardiac events than the rest of the population
A new meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has found that people with mental health problems are significantly less likely to receive important cardiac treatment (revascularisation, angiography, angioplasty and bypass grafting) following a cardiac event.

A systematic search and random effects meta-analysis was conducted by Dr Alex Mitchell from the Department of Liaison Psychiatry at Leicester Royal Infirmary, who identified 22 analyses of possible inequalities in coronary procedures in those with defined mental disorder, of which 10 also reported results in schizophrenia or related psychosis. You can read the abstract online here

07/06/2011
Study shows people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can have a significantly reduced life expectancy
The research, carried out at the Biomedical Research Centre for mental health at the Maudsley Hospital in London and published in the online journal PLoS ONE, found that people suffering from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can have a life expectancy 10 to 15 years lower than the UK average.

Researchers examined the electronic medical records of 30,000 people suffering from specific mental illnesses like schizophrenia, serious depression and bipolar disorder, or those being treated for substance misuse. They found that many were dying early from heart attack, stroke and cancer rather than suicide or violence. You can view the report here

07/06/2011
Sean Duggan responds to Guardian feature on IPP sentencing
Sean Duggan, joint chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health, responds to the Guardian's feature on a young man held on an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence without access to appropriate treatment for his bipolar disorder. The letter highlights the disproportionate number of people with mental health problems who are serving indeterminate sentences and are not receiving proper support. You can read the rest of the letter here.

01/06/2011
Open letter to the Guardian from the Centre and other leading Mental Health experts

Open letter to Guardian suggesting changes to the welfare system are having 'devastating' impact, driving some to suicide attempts. The letters calls for a shift towards a more sympathetic and supportive system which takes into account the additional challenges people with mental health problems may face. You can read the letter here.

12/04/2011
NICE quality standard for depression

NICE has launched a new quality standard for depression, which should enable:

Health and social care professionals to make decisions about care based on the latest evidence and best practice.
Patients to understand what service they can expect from their health and social care providers.
NHS Trusts to quickly and easily examine the clinical performance of their organisation and assess the standards of care they provide
Commissioners to be confident that the services they are providing are high quality and cost effective

08/04/2011
Good Practice: the transfer of prisoners under the Mental Health Act

The Department of Health has published this replacement good practice procedure guide for transferring and remitting remand, Immigration Act detainees to and from inpatient treatment under the Mental Health Act.

Some prisoners have experienced delays in the process to transfer them to hospital. The aim of this good practice procedure is to facilitate timely access to treatment under the Mental Health Act and reduce the likelihood of these delays.

06/04/2011
Count me in 2010

The Care Quality Commission has published the last Count Me In report, which presents the results of the 2010 national census of inpatients and patients on supervised community treatment in mental health and learning disability services in England and Wales. It calls for organisations outside of the healthcare sector to help improve mental health and wellbeing among black and ethnic minority people.

30/03/2011
Detained patients give their views on the mental health tribunal process

A ground-breaking report is published today on the experiences of patients who appealed to a tribunal against their detention under the Mental Health Act. First-hand information has been obtained for the first time from patients of their personal experiences of appearing before the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health), formerly the Mental Health Review Tribunal.

The report finds that patients’ experiences of tribunals were diverse, ranging from positive to strongly negative and that delays are a substantial factor in many patients’ negative experiences of the tribunal process.

09/03/2011
Public mental health and well-being: the local perspective

The NHS Confederation has published a new report, Public mental health and wellbeing – the local perspective, which examines local leaders’ perceptions of public mental health and wellbeing, the progress they have made, how they are acting on recent evidence, and how addressing mental illness and improving mental wellbeing go hand in hand.

There is growing evidence to show the positive impact that improving mental wellbeing can have on health and social and economic outcomes, but little is known about how this important and emerging agenda is developing within localities.

28/02/2011
Personal budgets: learning from the experiences of people with mental health problems

This report presents findings from research into the experiences of using personal budgets for older people, people with mental health problems and their carers, with suggestions for good practice and future improvement.

17/02/2011
No health without mental health: a briefing from the NHS Confederation

The NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network has produced this briefing, which summarises the strategy’s six objectives and describes how progress will be measured. It also outlines further work to support implementation, which will be taken forward over the next year and beyond.

07/02/2011
Family breakdown is a key factor driving in costs of mental illness

This survey by the Centre for Social Justice puts the cost to the nation of mental illness at £105 billion and finds that family breakdown in all its forms is strongly associated with poor mental health in adults and children, yet go unacknowledged in the Government’s mental health strategy launched last week. The role such breakdown plays in causing these problems is frequently overlooked by experts.

The report also calls for treatment to be more focused on helping the whole family unit as a way of preventing mental illness among children.

02/02/2011
No health without mental health - the government's mental health strategy

The Government today published a Mental Health Strategy, No Health Without Mental Health, setting out its six key objectives to improve mental health in England and the lives of people with mental health problems.

It also published a Call to Action in support of the strategy. Centre for Mental Health is among the signatories to the Call to Action and supports the six objectives in the strategy.

Read our response and the Future Vision Coalition's response.

01/02/2011
Facts and questions for Local Authorities about Supporting People

Supporting People services offer people with a range of needs, including mental health problems, homelessness and substance misuse, assistance to live independently. Supporting People funding is given by central Government to local authorities and pays for services such as 'floating support' which gives people with multiple needs practical help to maintain their tenancies and manage their daily lives.

The Centre is part of a group of charities and other national organisations that has come together to raise concerns about proposals for sharp reductions in Supporting People services in some local authorities. Our joint briefing paper sets out why Supporting People services provide good value for money and what local authorities can do to avoid making cuts that will incur far greater costs in the future.

19/01/2011
Mental Health Act 1983 - proposed amendments in the Health and Social Care Bill 2011

The Health and Social Care Bill currently before Parliament includes a number of proposed small amendments to the Mental Health Act. This letter from Bruce Calderwood, Director of Mental Health and Disability, outlines these changes.

04/01/2011
An evaluation of six community mental health pilots for veterans of the Armed Forces

This publication is the result of an independent evaluation into the Community Veterans Mental Health Pilots. The report suggests that care specialists with knowledge of the armed forces should be used to support veterans with mental health conditions.

30/11/2010
Healthy lives, healthy people White Paper: public health in England

The Government has published the White Paper that sets out its long-term vision for the future of public health in England. It proposes that local authorities commission public health services from a ring-fenced budget. Mental health is a factor in their public health thinking.

25/11/2010
NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare

The Department of Health has published an Atlas of variations in the NHS. It shows variations in the NHS across England and contains three mental health-related maps (from p34 in the PDF) on suicide rates, expenditure and rates of Incapacity Benefit claimants with mental health needs (p38 in the PDF).

22/11/2010
Government progresses plans for Armed Forces mental health

The Ministry of Defence and Department for Health announced that along with Armed Forces charity Combat Stress, they would continue to work together to move forward recommendations from the Fighting Fit report into military mental health produced by former Royal Navy doctor, Andrew Murrison MP.

Work is already underway on delivering a dedicated 24-hour support line for veterans, and we are working closely with Combat Stress and other service charities to ensure that veterans receive the care that they deserve.

17/11/2010
Briefing on Health, work and well-being in the NHS

This briefing from NHS Employers helps senior managers in the NHS make staff health and well-being part of their organisation’s culture and embed it into their policies.

It also examines the business case for improving staff health and well-being and sets out what trusts need to do to help meet the challenge of achieving £555 million in savings on sickness absence.

04/11/2010
More help for disadvantaged families

Twice as many disadvantaged families and new mums and dads will get help from a programme of Family Nurse Partnerships which provides intensive support and home visits from early pregnancy until a child is two years old, the Health Secretary has announced.

So far, around 6,000 families in England have benefitted from Family Nurse Partnerships. The Government is committed to doubling that number by 2015.

26/10/2010
New report shows why public health strategies cannot ignore mental health

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has published a compelling bank of evidence showing why public health strategies cannot afford to ignore mental health. The position statement, No health without public mental health: the case for action, shows that:

People with a mental disorder smoke almost half of all tobacco consumed in the UK and account for almost half of all smoking-related deaths.
Depression doubles the risk of developing coronary heart disease.
People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder die an average 20 years earlier than the general population, largely owing to physical health problems.
People with two or more long-term physical illnesses have a 7 times greater risk of depression.
Children from the poorest households have a three-fold greater risk of mental ill health than children from the richest households.

In the position statement, the RCPsych calls on the Coalition government to make a series of important policy changes, including:

Tackling substance addiction through a minimum alcohol pricing policy and an evidence-based addictions policy.
Prioritising mental health within smoking cessation programmes.
Targeting public mental health interventions for people at higher risk, for example children in care and those who are unemployed or homeless.
Promoting the importance of mental health and well-being in older age.

05/10/2010
More people with mental health problems are being made subject to compulsory care

In a new report from The NHS Information Centre, the latest figures for 2009/10 show that 16,622 patients were detained in hospital at the end of the year, an increase of 3.4 per cent from last year.

Taken together with the number of people subject to Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) (3,325 at 31 March 2010), these figures highlight growing use of the Mental Health Act to address the needs of people with mental health problems.

04/10/2010
Equality Act 2010 - affects employers and employees and service users

The Equality Act 2010 has now become law. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced guidance for employers, workers, service providers and service users on what the new parts of the Act will mean for them.

There are nine protected characteristics for employees:

Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage or civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Sex (gender)
Age

Further useful information is available on the Mind website.

14/09/2010
Latest CQC survey of people using community mental health services

The Care Quality Commission has published the latest survey of the views of people who use community mental health services in England.

People were generally very positive about the health and social care workers they had seen most recently for their mental health condition. But many reported that they had not been involved as much as they would have liked in some aspects of their care. Nearly half of those surveyed did not know who to contact in a crisis outside normal office hours.

02/09/2010
Care services minister outlines revised mental health strategy

In an exclsuive article in Community Care, Paul Burstow has outlined the link between poor mental health and poverty.

"Poor mental health is often a key link in that 'miserable chain of inevitability' linking family breakdown, worklessness, drug and alcohol abuse and crime with long-term poverty and exclusion."

"In the months ahead, ministers from the Department of Health and across government will reshape mental health strategy to set clear outcomes and offer a roadmap for delivering them."

The Future Vision Coalition has responded to this news.

02/09/2010
Care services minister outlines revised mental health strategy

In an exclsuive article in Community Care, Paul Burstow has outlined the link between poor mental health and poverty.

"Poor mental health is often a key link in that 'miserable chain of inevitability' linking family breakdown, worklessness, drug and alcohol abuse and crime with long-term poverty and exclusion."

"In the months ahead, ministers from the Department of Health and across government will reshape mental health strategy to set clear outcomes and offer a roadmap for delivering them."

The Future Vision Coalition has responded to this news.

16/07/2010
2009/10 National Survey of Investment in Adult Mental Health Services

The Department of Health has published the ninth annual report presenting the results of the finance mapping exercise. It provides details of the level of investment in mental health services for working age adults (aged 18-64) in England for 2009/10 and compares it with the reported results in previous years.

13/07/2010
Mental Health Alliance issues first review of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

Important safeguards designed to protect vulnerable people from being deprived of their liberty inappropriately are not being properly implemented, according to a new report released today from the Mental Health Alliance.

12/07/2010
The Coalition Government's NHS white paper

The Secretary of State for Health has published his white paper on the NHS - Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS. It proposes a major restructuring of the organisation in England.

The Department of Health is consulting on how best to implement these changes and would welcome comments on the implementation of the proposals requiring primary legislation. Comments should be sent by 5 October 2010.

12/07/2010
The Coalition Government's NHS white paper

The Secretary of State for Health has published his white paper on the NHS - Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS. It proposes a major restructuring of the organisation in England.

25/06/2010
Maximising resources in adult mental health

The Audit Commission has published a new efficiency briefing on maximising resources in adult mental health. It asks what scope there is for improving the efficiency of the acute care pathway in adult mental health, while maximising quality.

25/06/2010
Maximising resources in adult mental health

10/06/2010
What to expect if your rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act

The Care Quality Commission has produced new guidance on the rights of people detained in hospital, made subject to community treatment orders and also outlined the role of our commissioners. If you or somebody close to you has their rights restricted under the Mental Health Act, you may find the advice useful.

08/04/2010
Paths to Personalisation - a whole system, whole life framework

NMHDU has published a guide to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs.

The guide provides information about what personalisation means for mental health services and supports, offers examples of what needs to be in place to make things work, and provides pointers to good practice and sources of advice and information.

08/04/2010
Paths to Personalisation - a whole system, whole life framework

NMHDU has published a guide to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs.

08/04/2010
Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for mental well-being

Following on from the recent publication of New Horizons, the government has published Confident Communities, Brighter Futures. The report highlights early intervention and prevention through programmes such as psychological therapies, healthy workplaces and initiatives to reduce workplace stress, as well as education and lifelong learning to promote well-being and resilience.

By encouraging the inclusion of mental well-being in joint strategic needs assessments, it strongly supports the case for how they link to commissioning priorities in local area agreements.

08/04/2010
Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for mental well-being

By encouraging the inclusion of mental well-being in joint strategic needs assessments, it strongly supports the case for how they link to commissioning priorities in local area agreements.

08/04/2010
Attitudes to mental illness 2010

This year's Attitudes to Mental Illness survey results are out.

People are broadly sympathetic towards people with a mental illness. And, as usual, some attitudes are worse than in 1994 whilst a number have improved.

08/04/2010
Attitudes to mental illness 2010

This year's Attitudes to Mental Illness survey results are out.

People are broadly sympathetic towards people with a mental illness. And, as usual, some attitudes are worse than in 1994 whilst a number have improved.

11/02/2010
The state of health care and adult social care - report from CQC

The Care Quality Commission has published its first annual report to parliament on the on the state of health care and adult social care.

It says that services have steadily improved overall but rising demand and pressure on finances make reform essential. The Commission applauds overall improvements over recent years, but cautions that some services were lagging behind the pack and that there were areas of common concern across health and social care, notably keeping people safe and staff training.

11/02/2010
The state of health care and adult social care - report from CQC

The Care Quality Commission has published its first annual report to parliament on the on the state of health care and adult social care.

17/12/2009
The NHS operating framework for England for 2010/11

The Department of Health has published the operating framework for the NHS for 2010/11 which sets out their priorities for the year ahead. For the third year in a row, the national priorities in the operating framework remain the same.

It suggests steps that NHS organisations can take to implement the Boorman Review (p. 19) and references the Bradley report (p. 48) as a way to support PCTs in understanding and addressing the needs of offenders.

10/12/2009
New guide for mental health commissioners published

Commissioning high quality modern mental health services presents real challenges - but help is at hand for commissioners in a new guide. NMHDU's Commissioning Friend for Mental Health Services is designed to support primary care trusts and local authorities and assist them in developing their mental health commissioning practice.

10/12/2009
New guide for mental health commissioners published

10/12/2009
NHS 2010 - 2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive

This is the new five-year plan to reshape the NHS to meet the challenge of delivering high quality health care in a tough financial environment. The report describes practical measures to meet the demands of an aging population and the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases.

The vision is for an NHS that is organised around patients whether at home, in a community setting or in hospital. There will be a renewed focus on prevention with the ambition of delivering cost-effective high quality care across the service.

10/12/2009
NHS 2010 - 2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive

08/12/2009
New Horizons strategy launched

The government has published New Horizons: a shared vision for mental health. It is the successor to the National Service Framework in that it sets out the ‘blue-print’ for English mental health services in the future.

The strategy seeks to improve services and help prevent people developing mental illness. Its three main priorities are:

Better prevention
Better treatment, including for women with post-natal depression, ex-servcemen and older people
Reducing the impact of mental health conditions – reducing stigma and suicide prevention

08/12/2009
New Horizons strategy launched

The strategy seeks to improve services and help prevent people developing mental illness. Its three main priorities are:

Better prevention
Better treatment, including for women with post-natal depression, ex-servcemen and older people
Reducing the impact of mental health conditions – reducing stigma and suicide prevention

08/12/2009
Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action

This is the new cross-government national mental health and employment strategy. It addresses wellbeing at work for everyone and better employment outcomes for people with mental health conditions, both in and out of work.

This practical framework sets out a series of commitments from government and what it expects from health professionals, employers, organisations and individuals.

It identifies 6 key areas for action:

Changing attitudes to mental health
Improving health and wellbeing at work
Early intervention
Tailoring support (individualised) in and out of work
Building resilience from early years
Coordinating action across government

A companion guide to the strategy is available from SHIFT.

23/11/2009
NHS Health & Well-being Review by Steve Boorman: the final report

The Final Report of the independent NHS Health & Well-being Review reiterates the business case for change laid out in the Interim Report, and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations for improvement in provision of health and well-being across the NHS.

The Department of Health has also published the Government’s response to this report, setting out how it intends to implement the review’s recommendations.

23/11/2009
NHS Health & Well-being Review by Steve Boorman: the final report

The Department of Health has also published the Government’s response to this report, setting out how it intends to implement the review’s recommendations.

16/10/2009
Guidance on confidentiality

The GMC has published some guidance on confidentiality. It sets out the principles of confidentiality and respect for patients' privacy that doctors are expected to understand and follow. It covers such issues as disclosing information in the public interest, sometimes without a patient's consent.

24/09/2009
2009 survey of mental health acute inpatient services

The Care Quality Commission has published its 2009 survey of people who had recently had an inpatient stay for acute mental health problems. The survey asked people all about their experiences of services. It found that:

86% reported having physical health checks in hospital – but only 44% of those with physical health problems ‘definitely’ felt that enough care was taken of theses.
The survey showed limited access to talking therapies, with 29% receiving these overall and less than half of those who wanted talking therapies getting them.
There was a lack of activities available for inpatients, with 35% saying that there was too little to do on weekdays and over half (54%) reporting that there were not enough activities available to them at weekends or evenings.
Patients were often not involved in their care as much as they wanted to be, with 34% saying that they were “definitely” involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment.
Many patients felt that they were not given understandable explanations about their care and treatment,– 48% said that the potential side effects of medicines that they were prescribed whilst in hospital were not explained to them in a way they could understand.

17/09/2009
Seeing Double: Meeting the challenge of dual diagnosis

This report, by NMHDU, looks at the challenges posed to the NHS by people who have either developed problems with alcohol or drugs because of a pre-existing mental health condition, or have had a mental health condition caused by misusing alcohol or drugs.

It addresses the way provision of services for mental health and drug and alcohol misuse have developed separately and looks at how stronger links between the two, along with better workforce development and awareness, can provide a better service and potentially save money.

09/09/2009
Information sharing and mental health

Guidance from the Department of Health that sets out some of the issues relating to the exchange of information between mental health trusts and outside organisations and individuals.

09/09/2009
Information sharing and mental health

Guidance from the Department of Health that sets out some of the issues relating to the exchange of information between mental health trusts and outside organisations and individuals.

23/07/2009
New Horizons: towards a shared vision for mental health - consultation

The government has published New Horizons, its' consultation on the future of mental health policy after the National Service Framework. The consultation is open until 15 October 2009.

23/07/2009
New Horizons: towards a shared vision for mental health - consultation

The government has published New Horizons, its' consultation on the future of mental health policy after the National Service Framework. The consultation is open until 15 October 2009.

21/07/2009
Coercion and consent: monitoring the Mental Health Act 2007-2009

The Mental Health Act Commission has published a final report on the Mental Health Act and the care provided to people detained under the Act. The report claims that while there were good examples of people receiving good care during their visits to services there were variation across services. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a response (also at the link above).

01/07/2009
Age-appropriate services for patients under 18

The NMHDU has published a briefing to support commissioners of both adult and child and adolescent mental health services to prepare to accommodate patients under 18 in a suitable hospital environment.

The Government has committed to commencing this duty in April 2010, with the purpose of preventing the inappropriate admission of children and young people to adult psychiatric wards.

31/03/2009
Follow-up review of adult specialist community mental health services

This report sets out the overall results of the follow-up of the review of NHS adult specialist community mental health services in England. The report explores the extent to which services have improved since the original review in 2005/06. It provides recommendations aimed at all staff working in specialist community mental health services.

22/10/2008
Foresight Project's Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project

The outputs of the Foresight report have been published. The project was looking at the future challenges in mental health and wellbeing.

We contributed to the Scientific evidence on employment in SR-B9: Factors influencing recovery from serious mental illness and enhancing participation in family, social and working life.

18/09/2008
Improvements made in mental health care

A Healthcare Commission survey of people using community mental health services has shown continued improvements in care.

A larger percentage of service users say that they have confidence in mental health professionals, receive copies of their care plan and have a number to contact out-of-hours when in a crisis situation.

The survey also shows there is still some way to go before community mental health services are accessible to all people who need them and include all service users in decisions about their care.

28/07/2008
Review of the NHS acute inpatient mental health services

This report by the Healthcare Commission says the quality of the services varies widely across the country. It identifies areas for action, particularly improving the involvement of patients in their care.

It concludes that better co-ordination is needed to ensure that service users do not spend any longer in hospital than necessary and are supported when they move from hospital to community services.

15/02/2008
National audit of violence in mental health units

This is the second national audit of violence in mental health services conducted on behalf of the Healthcare Commission by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

There are about 30,000 in-patients in mental health units in NHS and independent organisations in England and Wales. The audit involved 211 units at 69 of those organisations and for the first time looked separately at services for working-age adults and wards for people over 65.

09/01/2008
Support,Time and Recovery (STR) Workers - updated guidance

The Department of Health has published a new handbook that reports on the progress of the STR implementation programme and updates the original 2003 policy implementation guide.

Helping employees who become severely depressed
What can employers do to create healthy productive workforces and manage the mental distress which will always be present and affecting their businesses? Together with Helen Lockett of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, the Centre's Bob Grove and Jan Hutchinson have written a useful article that outlines the steps businesses can take to support employees and reduce the costs assocated with mental ill health. They show that prevention is better than cure and that once a problem is recognised, the sooner action is taken the smaller that problem is likely to be.

Centre for Mental Health

Realising a better future

Policy Watch - Mental Health Policy