PM Andy Burnham: ‘Mental well being system piles strain on NHS – this wants to alter’
We’ve all had some experience of struggles with mental health. Maybe you’ve stood by a loved one in a time of need. Maybe you’ve been through tough moments yourself.
Too often, illness is only half the challenge, with people forced to wait too long and fight too hard to get the help they need.
The simple fact is that mental health services haven’t kept pace with rising demand. The result is a system that waits to step in only when someone reaches crisis, leaving their family under unbearable strain and piling more pressure on our NHS. This needs to change.
Today, we’re announcing a major expansion of NHS mental health services so people can get help earlier and closer to home.
This includes 100 new community mental health centres, where people with severe needs can walk in without a referral and get support without waiting months. In addition, we’re setting up 59 dedicated mental health emergency departments, giving people in crisis fast, same-day specialist care.
Community-led, community-based support is an approach we used to great effect in Greater Manchester. These services will make it much easier for people to get the right support, at the right time, in the right place. Mental health specialists will work alongside GPs, councils, charities and families, and provide direct links to housing and employment support.
The first of these new facilities will open their doors and offer their help later this year.
We know there’s a profound mental health crisis impacting younger generations. There are those who are quick to criticise young people today, but that’s never been my way. Our country’s future depends on them – and they will have this government’s support.
The overwhelming majority of the one million young people not in education, employment or training want the chance to build their future. But poor mental health, combined with a system that can’t keep up, robs them of that opportunity. These new NHS facilities will help get lives moving again.
When I spoke outside Downing Street on day one of the job, I promised we’d help people live well. I said we’d invest in success, rather than pay for failure. This is what that promise looks like.
And to everyone who’s struggling with their mental health today: don’t give up hope. Help is out there and more is on the way.
