Plan to improve access to psychological therapies welcomed by mental health charities
26 February 2008
Mental Health Foundation, Mind, Rethink, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, YoungMinds
Mental health charities have welcomed the announcement by the Secretary of State for Health of how the £173 million investment in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme will be spent.
The announcement of the implementation plan should mark the start of a process to give everybody access to psychological therapies when they most need them. For many people with depression and anxiety, timely access to therapy can be the difference between keeping and losing a job, or staying in school and dropping out.
The ‘We Need to Talk’ group says that the NHS should ultimately be able to offer a range of proven therapies to children and older people as well as those of working age. Psychological therapies should be part and parcel of the NHS for all who need them.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of The Mental health Foundation, said: “We welcome the expansion of talking therapies – few would disagree that this is a major step forward. The challenge now is to make sure that people are offered the treatment that is right for them, rather than having something imposed on them, whether it’s a particular talking therapy, medication or anything else.”
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of mental health charity Mind, said: "We are very pleased that the Government is committed to tackling this very important issue. We're glad that this new money is being ringfenced for the new talking treatment services. This will ensure it gets spent on what it's meant for, rather than going into PCTs' budgets where it could have been spent on other services. We also warmly welcome the option for people to self-refer to these new services, making them highly accessible. We hope that those commissioning these new services will consider the expertise and experience of the voluntary sector in delivering responsive and effective talking treatment services."
Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of Rethink, said: “Mental health charity Rethink welcomes the government’s initiative to widen access to psychological therapies on the NHS. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme will make it a lot easier for people with mild to moderate mental health problems to get the help they need. We look forward to seeing the knock-on benefits that will make a real improvement to people’s lives.
“To equally ensure greater access to talking therapies to those people with severe mental illness, and other groups which historically have found getting these types of therapies more difficult, health trusts need to spend their budgets carefully. Planning and thought must go into providing the kinds of services that will meet these needs as well as the more moderate end of the mental illness spectrum.”
Sarah Brennan, acting Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said: “YoungMinds highly values this new initiative and looks forward to increased and equitable to psychological therapies for children and young people in the future. Young people greatly benefit from active listening and talking through their issues with a trained, trusted adult in a confidential setting, so access to therapists who are experienced in engaging young people will be crucial to the success of improving access for children and young people in the future”
Angela Greatley, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health chief executive, said: “We warmly welcome the investment and the commitment the Government is putting into psychological therapies. The lack of timely NHS provision of psychological therapies is a major inequality in health care. IAPT is a unique opportunity to train and develop a group of NHS-aligned therapists with the skills that are needed to offer support to the full range of people experiencing mental distress: from those at risk of losing their jobs to those caught up in the youth justice system.”
Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive of Turning Point, said: “It is vital to ensure that everyone benefits from the welcome expansion of psychological therapies. From Turning Point’s experience, people with complex needs, for example those with an additional learning disability, are often poorly served by current provision. To be truly effective, psychological therapies must also be combined with support in other areas such as housing or employment.”
We Need To Talk is a collaboration between five mental health organisations: Mental Health Foundation, Mind, Rethink, The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, Young Minds and published by the Mental Health Foundation.
The We Need to Talk campaign is kindly supported by the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust.