At the start of mental health awareness week (8-14 May), Cllr Stephen Morgan, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Portsmouth South in next month’s general election, says the government’s record on mental health is one of failure.
The Tories and Lib Dems over the past seven years have failed to ensure that mental health is given the same priority as physical health.
Cllr Morgan said:
“The Tories might talk about equality between mental and physical health, but their rhetoric has not become reality.
The truth is that funding for mental health fell by over 8 per cent over the last parliament, there are now 6,600 fewer mental health nurses compared to 2010 and thousands of patients in crisis have to travel out of area for a psychiatric bed.
The government has failed to provide sufficient funding for mental health services, and people are being let down as a result”.
Recent research undertaken by the National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with Leicester University found that 17% of people have a common mental disorder. Only 37% of those people who have anxiety or depression get treatment for their condition. And only one in three people now undergo some form of treatment for their illness, either counselling or medication.
Cllr Morgan added:
“It’s clear that nowhere near enough people are getting the support they need – in fact, more people than not are getting no treatment at all.
Something must be done. Labour will invest in our NHS to do this”.
