Mental health services in South Cheshire could come under threat as it’s revealed that the proportion of the clinical budget allocated to these services will be just five per cent.
According to data obtained by Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree Luciana Berger, more than half of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), responsible for setting NHS trust budgets, do not plan to spend more on mental health in the coming months.
Ms Berger, who is also a member of the health select committee and chair of Labour’s Campaign For Mental Health, recently wrote in the Huffington Post that 2017 marks the fourth year in a row that the government has failed to deliver on its promise to increase the money reaching the mental health frontline.
Assessing statistics obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Ms Berger said that the number of CCGs pledging to increase mental health spending has gradually dropped year on year since 2014. Now, 52 per cent of CCGs say they will not invest a greater proportion of their budget in mental health services.
“We must continue to strengthen the social movement in mental health that is creating the space for us all to talk about the issues more freely,” she commented, calling for mental health spending to be ring-fenced and for proper investment in prevention and early intervention across the nation’s schools and communities.
Previous figures have shown that clinical commissioning groups across Cheshire spent approximately 25 per cent less on mental health per head than the national average. For therapy in Cheshire, contact us today.