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I watched the Lansley announcement on public health on Parliament live this afternoon. Not one mention of mental health in his statement or the subsequent questions. Yet the Department of Health says (and this is current):


  • “Poor mental health and well-being can have an impact on every area of a person’s life; physical health, education, employment, family, relationships, and the effects can last a lifetime. It plays an important part of in contributing to and maintaining health and social inequalities. Good mental health and well-being are associated with improved outcomes for individuals including longevity, physical health, social connectedness, educational achievement, criminality, maintaining a home, employment status and productivity.”


I think the DH quote is an excellent one with which I wholly agree. Applause to them. But it is at present fat wormy text - substance but squirming in no particular direction.



Mental health, once again in sick repetition, has been pushed to the back; shoved under the carpet; mothballed in the wardrobe.



Here in Norfolk we get the the exclusion of mental health shoved in our faces; the local authority adult social care avoidance of any mention (apart from a scant nod in the direction of dementia); social care personal budgets pushing it into a separate silo; NHS pilots of personal budgets quivering at the mere mention; some people with sensory and physical disabilities openly discriminating against those with mental health problems; health staff in local hospitals vehemently taking the attitude that mental health is not their job.



Localism promotes discrimination.


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