Mental health funding falling, BBC reports

The BBC has reported that funding levels for NHS mental health care in England have decreased, after obtaining information from a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

The FoI revealed that the budgets for mental health trusts have declined by two per cent from 2013-14 to 2014-15. Out of the 53 (of 59) mental health trusts which responded to the request, 29 claimed their budget was expected to be reduced further this year.

The Health and Social Care Bill requires a ‘parity of esteem’, which means mental and physical health services should be treated equally. However, the BBC’s investigation suggested that a number of mental health trusts in Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland, which provide around £1.2 billion worth of mental health care in the UK, are facing cuts.

Anita Charlesworth, chief economist at the Health Foundation, a charity campaigning for better health care in the UK, said: "Mental health hasn't increased as a share of NHS funding, despite the fact that there are huge demands on the system, and access to care for mental health still falls way below that for physical health.

"The NHS clearly sees parity of esteem as a key priority and want to prioritise improving mental health. But problems in our hospital sector means that money increasingly is getting sucked in to meet their rising costs, and the NHS is struggling to actually commit resources to fund mental health providers."

However, a Department of Health (DoH) spokesman argued: "These figures do not show the full picture for mental health spend - councils, third-sector organisations and NHS England all play a role in providing services, and all receive government funding.

"We have made more money available than ever before for mental health, increasing our investment every year since 2010 to a record £11.7bn last year."