Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to (a) improve access to and (b) increase funding of mental health services in (i) the North East, (ii) County Durham and (iii) Easington constituency.
Nicola Blackwood
This Government remains committed to achieving parity of esteem for mental health. We have invested more than ever before in mental health with spending on mental health estimated to have increased to £11.7 billion.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are committed to increasing spending on mental health further each year in line with the increase in their overall funding allocations. Information on steps being taken locally can be obtained from NHS Durham, Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG, and other CCGs in the North East.
To fund the commitments recommended in the mental health taskforce, we will increase funding over the next five years rising to £1 billion additional expenditure by 2020-21. As announced in January 2016, the Government confirmed additional investment for mental health which includes:
– £290 million of new investment over the next five years to provide mental healthcare for perinatal care;
– £247 million to invest in liaison mental health services in emergency departments; and
– Over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital.
This builds on the £1.4 billion over five years announced in 2015 for children and young people’s mental health services, including services for eating disorders.
