NHS Confederation responds to the new Every Mind Matters mental health campaign

Responding to the new Every Mind Matters campaign announced by the Department of Health and Social Care ahead of World Mental Health Day, Sean Duggan chief executive of the NHS Confederation’s mental health network, said:

“While we welcome the launch of this campaign ahead of World Mental Health Day, mental health leaders would urge the government to go much further and set out a clear commitment to improving the mental health of the nation.

“The previous government had committed to publishing a 10-year plan for mental health, however mental health is worryingly absent from the new Secretary of State’s ‘ABCD’ priority list for the NHS.

“Yet mental health services are buckling under the strain of a mental health backlog which now stands at 1.6m people and rising, combined with significant staffing gaps in the mental health workforce.

“Without a clear roadmap for mental health services for the months and years ahead, a generation of people risk not being able to access the services they need for support at the time they need them most.”