NHS still awaiting parity for mental health

A new report by the Kings Fund has revealed that physical health services are still receiving larger budgets, five years after the government promised ‘parity of esteem’.

The paper highlights that 84 per cent of mental health trusts received an increase in funding last year, significantly higher than in previous years. However, income for mental health trusts rose by less than 2.5 per cent in 2016/17 compared to more than six per cent for acute and specialist trusts, continuing a trend of a growing spending gap between mental health and acute trusts.

The number of mental health nurses has fallen 13 per cent since 2009, while one in 10 of all posts in specialist mental health services are currently vacant. This has led to an increased risk to patient safety as a result of problems with staffing in more than half of trusts.

Helen Gilburt, lead author, said: “The NHS is in the very difficult position of trying to deliver parity of esteem at the same time as it is under huge pressure to reduce deficits and improve performance in acute hospitals. While the great majority of local clinical commissioning groups have met their commitments to raise spending on mental health, the overall spending gap between mental health trusts and acute and specialist trusts has widened because national funding has focused on relieving pressure on acute hospitals.

“Unless funding grows more quickly, mental health providers may end up implementing improvements to some services at the expense of others. Despite the commitment of national leaders, the funding gap between mental health and acute NHS services is continuing to widen, while growing staff shortages are affecting the quality and safety of care. As long as this is the case, the government’s aim to tackle the burning injustices faced by people with mental health problems will remain out of reach.”