Groundbreaking NHS recommendations pave the way for a mental health revolution

By Yousif Farah

Image courtesy of weekendnotes.com

Mental health patients and charities including The Mental Health Foundation, Mind and Recovery Focus have all welcomed an announcement by NHS England committing them to the biggest transformation of mental health care across the NHS in a generation.

The announcement which was made yesterday came in response to a final report carried out by The Mental Health Independent taskforce and chaired by the Chief Executive of Mind Paul Farmer. In the report it is revealed that one in four of us will experience a mental health problem in their life time and that the cost of mental ill health to the economy is 105 billion a year.

The taskforce had made few recommendations which have been accepted by the NHS, among the recommendations investing over £1bn a year of additional funding in NHS care by 2020/21 in order to reach one million more people. For a full list of the recommendations please visit NHS England.

Paul Farmer said: “This is a landmark moment for mental health care in this country, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform services and support for people with mental health problems.”

The Mental Health Foundation believes that the latest NHS commitment marks a pivotal moment in the fight for a mentally healthier nation.

Jenny Edwards CBE, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said:

“The Mental Health Foundation has been calling for a greater focus on prevention and we are delighted that this is clearly reflected in the report”

This groundbreaking report comes less than a week after the release of a similar independent commission-led report chaired by former chief executive of the NHS Lord Crisp and examining the state of acute psychiatric care in the country.

Lord Crisp concluded that sending patients to receive treatments far-away from their communities and homes was a “potentially dangerous” practice which needs to stop also estimated that every month 500 patients have to travel more than 31 miles and sometimes as far as 100 miles to receive acute treatment in psychiatric wards due to the severe shortage in beds. They recommended an end to the practice by October of next year.

In the report Lord Crisp says:

“It is time to end the difference in standards between mental and physical illness” said Lord Crisp.

“People with severe mental illnesses need to find care just as quickly as people suffering from physical illness - and they shouldn’t have to travel long distances too.”

The commission believes the solution to the problem lies in more investment in home-based treatment and a greater role for patients and carers in the service they use.

Poached Creative works closely with many organisations concerned with mental health patients and their wellbeing providing us with an insight on how pivotal mental wellbeing is to patients, their relatives and the community.

 Lately we have been collaborating with Mental Snapp which is a social enterprise endeavouring to tackle the stigma surrounding mental illnesses through a video app that enables mental health service users to tell their own stories by recording short video updates on their mental health, which become a part of their NHS health record.

We have also trained many people who have experienced mental ill health assisting them with finding employment and stability in their lives.

Our employees, trainees and volunteers have contributed many articles pertinent to mental health to our blog, including blogs describing their own struggle with mental illness.

Depression, the stigma and the reality

Photo: Zeevveez/Flickr

By Yousif Farah

This week is Depression Awareness Week, a week to reflect upon our approach towards mental illness. One in four of us is likely to develop a mental illness at some stage of our lives.

The week aims to raise both awareness and funds to end the loneliness and isolation of depression, and the stigma surrounding it through highlighting what it means to live with the illness.

At Poached Creative mental health is central to our work. As well as working with many local and nationwide mental health bodies and charities including the NHS and Hackney youth charity Off Centre, we have trained many people who have suffered from depression through our Big Issue Online Journalism Course. Many of them have defeated their depression and moved on with their lives - now they are invaluable assets to us here at Poached.

Angela Williams, Deputy Director at Poached says:

“I began my training with Poached Creative when it started in 2009. I was going through some dark times with my depression, training with Poached gave me the confidence, a purpose and a “leg up” to work in a creative environment. Through more people speaking out about mental illness, we can push away the stigma and show that people from all walks of life can be affected, but also treated with dignity and respect.”

Depression - a brief history
It wasn't until the fifties that depression, also known as Major Depressive Disorder by medical care professionals, was linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Prior to that, mental health patients were locked in asylums and treated through basic methods which included sedation, baths and even electrical shocks. At the time, many people dismissed depression as a weakness in the patient’s personality or willpower.

1959 saw the introduction of the landmark Mental Health Act, followed up by advances in psychiatry and drug treatment, and greater emphasis on human rights accompanied by advances in social science and institutionalisation theory. 

More recently, steps have been taken in terms of addressing the issue in the UK.

In the 2010 Equality Act a mental health illness is recognised as a disability if it has a long-term effect on the patient’s normal day-to-day life.

Mental health in the media
Mental health, and depression in particular, are topics often neglected in the mainstream media, overshadowed by coverage of other physical illnesses. 

Public figures such as Alastair Cambell have contributed to a better understanding of mental health issues.

Sadly, some people still ridicule mental illness and those affected by it.

This is what television personality Katie Hopkins had to say to patients suffering from depression:

"To be diagnosed as depressed is the holy grail of illness for many. The ultimate passport to self-obsession. Get a grip, people".

Her remarks caused a public outrage. Katie Hopkins is known for making controversial statements so it's hard to know whether she has been educated of the realities of depression, or whether she views mental illness through subjective light.

The reality of life for a depressed person is bleak: performing daily tasks which a mentally stable person normally takes for granted such as reading a book, talking to a friend or even getting out of bed represents a challenge.

When the demons of depression take over the patient’s life, they can become emotionally destabilised or disconnected and end up isolating themselves. The more severe the symptoms, the more isolated the person becomes, and unless treated the depression is likely to have a devastating impact on someone’s career, relationships or even own life.

Fortunately, organisations like the Depression Alliance, who are behind Depression Awareness Week, have information and help available on their website.

Find out more about Depression Awareness Week and how you can get involved.

Twitter, the NHS and other stories

The US healthcare debate and the UK's backlash with the We love the NHS campaign has finally prompted me to join the Twittering masses.

I've been keeping an eye on Twitter for a while now - any communications tool that can mobilise the country in support of our most simultaneously loved and loathed institution deserves some attention.

There are several things that strike me.

1. Even though it looks like it's aimed at nine-year-olds, it's companies that use it most. It suprises me that so many professionals, academics and media personalities take it seriously. (OK, I'm not really surprised about the media personalities.)

2. Its best use seems to be to let people know about something really interesting that they don't know about yet. Why, then, so many people use it to tell their friends what they had for breakfast is beyond me. (But they do - oh yes they do.)

3. It's got tremendous potential as a democratising technology - a free and open platform for anyone to have their say in 140 characters. Basically it promises many of the things the internet promised and didn't quite deliver back in the dotcom days. I love it when people take hold of a technology and turn it to their purposes (so often it's the other way around!) and Twitter's use as a campaigning tool is particularly interesting.

So, I've decided to venture out there into Twitterland, tweeting as my professional self to share links and ideas that might be of interest to people who care about similar things - social enterprise, media, the NHS, unemployment issues, homelessness, good employment practice and such like.

You can find me at www.twitter.com/jessicatsmith

Don't worry, I've only posted one thing so far and I certainly won't be bothering you with what I had for breakfast.