Last week, ministers announced their intention to produce a cross-government mental health strategy for England, and they published a call for evidence for what should be in it. This is a big step forward for our mental health, filling a void that has lasted for well over a decade since the last government mental health plan in 2011.
Over the last two decades we have seen a marked deterioration in mental health in England, especially among younger people. Rates of common mental health problems have risen among all age groups, and doubled among children and young people, while levels of mental wellbeing have fallen. Demand for mental health support has risen, including for secondary care – suggesting that while the prevalence of severe mental illness hasn’t risen significantly, levels of need (or acuity) have increased.
Successive governments have for too long neglected the nation’s mental health and missed opportunities to turn around rising rates of mental distress and ill health. Years of austerity policies, of rising inequality, of changing technology, of growing polarisation and isolation have taken their toll on people’s mental health. The current prevalence review will, we hope, shine a clearer light on what is behind rising levels of mental ill health, but the fact of it is now indisputable. Put simply, the risk factors for mental distress and ill health have got bigger, and the protective factors that buffer us against them have weakened.
The Government’s pledge to create a new strategy could be a vital building block of turning this around. It must combine effective action at scale to promote and protect our mental health, to tackle the inequalities and injustices people face because of their mental health, and to improve and where necessary transform mental health services. These three crucial elements for a new strategy were at the heart of our sector’s collective call to action in A Mentally Healthier Nationin 2023, and they stand today as a framework for action.
To be effective, the strategy must cover the whole of Government: not just health and care services but schools, communities, the economy and the environment. It must be evidence-based, with funding where needed for interventions and approaches that have been shown to work. And it must be coproduced with people and communities who know firsthand what needs to change to improve mental health for all. The call for evidence is a chance for all of us who can contribute to this process, and to provide the insights and intelligence the Government needs to make this new strategy effective.
The strategy is a chance to change the way we are governed, by putting our mental health at the heart of policymaking. It could do this by introducing a mental health policy test for future decisions and actions across government, and by creating a new ‘mental health commissioner’ role to guide and hold government to account for making progress. That would ensure the machinery of government was better attuned to meeting the ever-evolving mental health needs of society long-term.
We have, of course, been here before. In 2022, the then health secretary Sajid Javid made a similar announcement, and many thousands of people took part in the call for evidence. That was shelved, and we have had four years since of drift without a plan or strategic direction outside the NHS. We hope that this will be different: that we will have a clear and sustainable strategy, informed by real life expertise and knowledge, with resources deployed where necessary and accountability for delivery baked in from the start. The call for evidence is running until 10 July. This is an important opportunity, and we will be sharing details of the Centre’s response soon.
A mentally healthier future is possible. The cross-government strategy could be the starting point to make that a reality.
