NHS: Mental Health Patient Assessment Needs

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I think spreading best practice is a perennial problem in the NHS. The noble Baroness gave an example of that but I could give many, many others: we are not good in the NHS at spreading best practice. I hope that the newly reformed combination of the TDA and Monitor into NHS Improvement will be a very useful repository of good practice, in the same way as the IHI is in the USA.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland (CB)]

My Lords, I find that reply singularly disappointing, as the Minister will know that any child exhibiting the kinds of problems that have been described today could be seriously ill—they could have a brain tumour or hydrocephalus. In addition, he also knows that the availability of good mental health services for young people, adolescents and those in their 20s is in serious difficulty at the moment. What are the Government doing to ensure that NHS England is improving these services and making a real effort so that we do not have cases such as this, for I am sure that it is not an isolated incident?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

In picking up the general point that the noble Baroness made, the Government have committed a great deal of extra resource to the mental health needs of young people. For example, I cite the NHS mandate and the Health and Social Care Act 2012, in which there is a duty to establish parity of esteem between mental health and physical health. It is also true that one can never do enough, and when one hears about a tragic case such as that described by my noble friend earlier, one has to look very carefully in the mirror and ask whether one could do more. That is why I have offered to meet my noble friend outside this House to discuss the matter in more detail.