Top Labour MP says Government is 'breaking promise on mental health'
2 min read
Half of NHS cash-planning groups intend to reduce the wedge of money they spend on mental health services for the second year running, new figures have revealed.
Labour MP Luciana Berger obtained data which show 50% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) would reduce the proportion of their budgets they spend on mental health for 2017/18.
The finding flies in the face of promises by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt that the groups were “committed to increasing the proportion of their funding that goes into mental health”.
Health Select Committee MP Ms Berger accused Theresa May of “harming mental health services” and said there had been “enough empty promises”.
Planning guidance for NHS England says all CCGs are required to increase their mental health spend by at least as much as their overall budget increases.
But according to Freedom of Information request responses sent to Ms Berger, in 2014/15, 67% of CCGs did not intend to increase their proportion of spend on mental health.
For 2015/16, it was 38% and last year, in 2016/17, it was 57%.
Ms Berger - who is president of the Labour Campaign for Mental Health - said: “Theresa May claims to be committed to improving mental health but her cuts are harming mental health services.
“This is the second year in a row that half of our cash-strapped Clinical Commissioning Groups have not increased their proportion of spend on mental health.”
“Ministers must ask themselves how long this can be allowed to go on for. They are overseeing a system which puts patients at risk and staff under unbearable pressure.
The Liverpool Wavetree MP added: “Enough empty promises. At the very least Jeremy Hunt must urgently introduce a ringfence around mental health budgets.”
