Oral Answers to Questions

Norman Lamb Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I absolutely agree. About 3% of schoolchildren have severe anxiety, but if we get treatment to them quickly, often we cure the condition and it does not come back. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we need to be as imaginative as possible.

[Norman Lamb (North Norfolk) (LD)]

T8. I have to report back to a constituent who is desperate for treatment that the current waiting time for the adult ADHD clinic is two years. In 2014, the Secretary of State and I published a vision to achieve comprehensive maximum waiting time standards in mental health so that people with mental ill health had exactly the same right to access treatment in the same time. Why on earth can the Government not end the outrageous discrimination against people with mental ill health?

[Mr Hunt]

I am always somewhat disappointed by the right hon. Gentleman’s rhetoric, given that we are spending about £1 billion more every year than when he was mental health Minister. This April, we will reintroduce maximum waiting times for eating disorders. As he knows, we have committed to publish pathways for all conditions during this Parliament. That will include his constituent who, I agree, is waiting much too long at the moment.