The Rollercoaster of Mental Health in the UK Today

Mental health in the UK is currently facing turbulent times. Certainly great strides are being made in addressing the stigma of mental health. This is evident in the plethora of media stories and high-profile anti-stigma campaigns such as Time to Change suggesting that attitudes in relation to prejudice and exclusion have significantly improved.

The government has pledged to increase mental health support for teams in schools with the aim to prevent the development of mental health difficulties in our growing population. Whilst the NHS has pledged an overall funding increase by £1.4 billion through the Five Year Forward Plan, decades of being the ‘Cinderella service’ continues to plague this aspect of our health service.

Recent media reports portray mental health services as being ‘in crisis’ – citing the 30% decline in beds available over the last 10 years. Detentions under the mental health act continue to rise dramatically – some 47% between 2006 and 2015/16. Whilst services invest in crisis teams and targeting care to those most ‘at risk’, preventative mental health measures and consistent community care have declined and has thus contributed to the rise of crisis admissions.

Another serious concern has been the mental health nursing (MHN) workforce – comparing the number of MHN’s in 2016: 35,943 to 2009: 40,862 - a fall by over 10% of full-time equivalent MHN’s. This problem is exacerbated by declines in nursing support staff – such as nursing assistants and auxiliaries over the same period. Alongside these challenges sit the rising distressing difficulties associated with claiming health care benefits. The current assessment and sanctioning process that forces people with mental and physical impairments to re-join the workforce has in some cases resulted in suicides. It is perhaps unsurprising then that the DWP has been characterised as having a ‘culture of indifference’ by disability rights campaigners.