Gender-based Violence: Screening

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, NHS England is working with the Department of Health to identify the right pathways, access to and availability of psychotherapeutic support for victims of sexual abuse and, in that context, the risk factors at play for women who have HIV. It is vital that the support services that we have and the alerts in the system are sensitive to the issue which the noble Baroness raises.

[Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton (Lab)]

My Lords, would the Minister care to reassure the House on the progress towards parity between mental health services and the rest? It is no good identifying people who need mental health service support and psychological support if those services are not there, and in many parts of the country they have been decimated.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we are concerned about the sometimes patchy provision of mental health services in certain parts of the country, and we have channelled additional money to address that in recent months. One of the main ways in which we have demonstrated our commitment to parity of esteem is by introducing, for the first time, waiting-time standards for mental health treatment. That it is a landmark.