Extra cash for mental health care pledged

Under its new mental health strategy, published today, the coalition aims to treat mental health with the same priority and importance as physical health for the first time and to combat the stigma attached to it.

It will also stress the need for early intervention, to nip in the bud problems in children.

Speaking ahead of the launch yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said mental health had carried a stigma for too long and a change in focus to end its status as a "Cinderella service" was overdue. But he acknowledged that unemployment and other economic stresses could cause a rise in such problems.

The money being pumped into mental health provision will be extra money, he added, and would not just be shunted from another part of the health budget.

The extra money is designed to give children and young people in England better access to modern psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy. The Government also plans to work closely with key charities, stakeholders and children to ensure the services meet their needs. Some 8m a year will be spent on extending access to psychological therapies to children.

Under the strategy, called No Health Without Mental Health, the aim is for an extra 1.2 million people to receive treatment for depression and anxiety, 500,000 more people to recover, with many more showing measurable improvement and 75,000 more people put back into work or take part in education, training or volunteering.

More than 700m will be made in savings in healthcare, tax and welfare gains. Of this, 270m is expected to come from NHS savings, the rest from tax gains and welfare savings.

The government also plans to work in partnership with the voluntary sector and the wider community to challenge stigma and discrimination.

But Labour and some mental health charities cast doubt on the strategy, being launched as it is against a backdrop of cuts to other services.

Shadow care minister Emily Thornberry said: "There is no clear plan for implementing these aspirations. The Government wants this vision to be achieved while at the same time grabbing the NHS by the ankles, turning it upside down and shaking it hard."

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of charity Youngminds, welcomed the goal of putting children and young people's mental health at the forefront of the plans, but added: "turning the strategy from rhetoric to reality will be challenging in the context of deep cuts to children's services, which will threaten its success.