Clegg Calls For “Revolution In Mental Health Services”

Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg has called for an overhaul in how metal health services are provided in the UK.

Speaking at the Guardian Public Services Summit in St Albans Mr Clegg said Mental ill health in the UK is costing the taxpayer around £77 billion a year and as such it was time that the issue was put at the centre of the political debate, the Guardian reports.

“It is time to break the silence – we must take the issues around mental health out of the shadows,” he said.

He accused the government of investing in drugs and acute services for the mentally ill in an attempt to meet the government’s 18-week waiting list target.

He said money would be better spent community mental health services. He said he was “looking for no less than a revolution in the way we treat mental illness” and called for the introduction of a 13-week waiting target by 2012 for patients who need mental health services.