Mental Health

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for initiating today’s debate and join your Lordships in congratulating my noble friend Lord Suri on his maiden speech.

In my lifetime, mental health services have gone through a radical transformation, perhaps more than any other part of the health system. When I started nursing, people with mental health problems were usually treated in large institutions. Today, as your Lordships know, care is focused mainly in the community. Multidisciplinary teams care for people in their own homes. Admissions are in small specialist units and for those requiring long-term care there are small residential units. This is, of course, the way forward, but unlike most other health complaints, mental health has its own very special problems. When those with mental health issues suffer an episode, they require immediate attention. An appointment one week or even a few days later can be too late and lead to disastrous consequences. Acute in-patient service provision has remained a challenge throughout the country, as has community care. With people being treated mainly in the community, the number of in-care beds has decreased, causing an increased number of out-of-area placements at substantial cost to authorities and with lengthy travel, leading to extra cost to clients and their families. But there is good practice going on that is making a considerable difference in certain areas and I would like to share two of these with your Lordships today.

I am closely involved with a charity called the Nelson Trust which has facilitated two women’s centres, in Gloucester and Swindon, treating clients with substance abuse. As the Corston report stated, more often than not these women have a history of mental health issues. The women whom we are seeing at the centres are those who have suffered trauma in their life, leading to depression, self-harming and personality disorders, and this in turn has led to substance misuse. Many of our clients have served custodial sentences and been in constant trouble with the police. When they are referred to us, the Nelson Trust can be their last chance to avoid a prison sentence.

We have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, about the importance of looking after people with these problems in our society. In July 2014, Theresa May delivered a speech outlining the importance of ensuring that people with mental health problems are identified and diverted from the criminal justice system into appropriate healthcare and support service providers. The psycho-educational group programme at the Nelson Trust responds to these difficulties along with emotional and practical support not only to the client but, more often than not, treating the whole family. This brings huge financial savings to the community and treats the multiple problems that mental health can bring under one roof. The centres are closely involved with the police, probation and healthcare professionals, magistrates and housing providers.

In Cambridgeshire, our police and crime commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, facilitated a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mental health crisis care concordat. This landmark agreement sets out how agencies that deal with people suffering from mental health problems will work together to support those experiencing a mental health crisis. Improved information-sharing, prevention and early intervention were just some of the commitments made in the declaration.

Those are just two examples of joined-up thinking which has brought a difference in these communities to both those suffering from mental health problems and the professionals who come into contact with them. Implementing known good practice that already exists provides good integrated mental health care, saves time and money and expedites the care that can be available. The King’s Fund stated in September 2014:

“Cultural change is as important as funding in transforming mental health”.

How true this statement is.

Mental health still carries a stigma, yet one in three of us will come into contact with mental health problems in our lifetime. It can affect people of any age, any socioeconomic group and is hugely destructive not only to those suffering mental health issues but to their families as well. We are at ease discussing other health issues, quite often intimate ones, but will rarely discuss mental health issues. This must change; mental health should be treated as a core public health issue so that it will be as normal for everyone to look after their mental health as it is to look after their physical health. The public health workforce must see mental health as one of its core responsibilities. The voice of the mental health community is finally being listened to and, as we are seeing today, the issues are being debated, but collaboration between commissioners, providers, service users, academics and clinicians and the justice system is still too rare.

Mental health cannot be considered in isolation and can rarely be separated from physical health. Therefore, as with most practices within the NHS, it requires a joined-up approach involving multiple stakeholder groups. A reduction in the number of people across the UK developing mental health disorders is surely the only way that mental health services will adequately cope with future demand. The case for more preventive work is therefore undeniable.

Arguably, the onus today is on GPs to run initial care and give treatment, instead of referring patients on to the appropriate professional. However, as one noble Lord has stated, some GPs have said that they felt out of their depth. Is this partly due to the downplayed role of psychiatric social workers, daycare workers and community psychiatric nurses? Could an acute episode be avoided if respite or suitable community care were more readily available when someone felt an episode building up, thereby saving considerable frustration and a feeling of helplessness for the client, as well as saving the considerable resources required for treating an episode once it reaches crisis proportions?

These are an inadequate few words on a massive subject that affects people from birth to death, leaving in its wake a feeling of helplessness, fear, frustration and loneliness among all those it touches. We must feel confident that, when seeking help for mental health problems, the appropriate healthcare experts will be immediately available to give us the appropriate treatment and care in the appropriate place.