London faces ‘rapidly unravelling’ mental health crisis

London faces a “rapidly unravelling” mental health crisis, a Labour candidate for City Hall warned.

Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said real term cuts in funding and “unprecedented demand” would mean the undermining of every aspect of the socio-economic structure of the capital.

Ms Abbott raised her concerns in a backbench business debate in the Commons, warning half of Londoners reported suffering from anxiety, while 15% have common mental health illnesses such as depression.

She said: “Unless we start seriously tackling what I believe to be a rapidly unravelling crisis of service provision for mental illness, we will begin to see the dire ramifications surfacing in all aspects of society – education, family stability and public order.

“The sad truth is mental health provision has long been chronically underfunded and now, during a time of unprecedented demand, the concern is spending may be falling dramatically in real terms.

“Recent figures indicate almost a million adults of working age in London – 15.8% of the adult population – are affected by common mental disorders such as anxiety or depression.

“It is also estimated 7% of London’s population has an eating disorder, one in 20 adults have a personality disorder, 1% of Londoners are registered with their GP as having a psychotic disorder, and nearly half of Londoners are anxious.

“In addition to this, almost a third of Londoners report low levels of happiness which clearly must be exacerbated by the cost of living.”

The MP warned black and ethnic minority residents of the city faced further problems because of long-standing problems with them receiving parity of care and service.

Ms Abbott said: “Sometimes it’s hard to get the data we need but we know for instance within Lambeth, less than a mile from this chamber, more than half the people admitted to acute psychiatric wards and more than 65% of people in secure wards in Lambeth are from the Caribbean and African communities.

“We have these accurate statistics for Lambeth but you only have to walk into psychiatry wards across London to see that the majority of beds in London mental health institutions like the Maudsley are occupied by people of colour.

“We are more likely to come to the mental health system through the criminal justice system particularly by being picked up by police on the street and finding ourselves sectioned.

“We are less likely to be offered talking therapy.”

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) spoke of the need to send a “gentle message” to the Metropolitan Police that mental health conditions should be covered within training.

He also said there should be target times for treatment of mental health problems as there are for cancer and called for a body to scrutinise deaths in mental health settings as happens with deaths in police custody.

Conservative Sir John Randall (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) called for mental health awareness training to be made available for incoming first-time MPs.

He also said it worried him that families of people suffering from a mental health condition did not always want to believe there was a problem.

And he told the House he thought he would be more able to deal with one of his children coming to him with a physical complaint than a mental health issue.

Shadow health minister Luciana Berger said the pressures faced by mental health services across the country are being “acutely felt” in London.

She said she had received a letter from the Danshell Group, which provides 20% of child and adolescent mental health service (Camhs) provisions across the country.

Ms Berger told MPs: “They have received an offer from NHS London for their contract for the next financial year and this will see a reduction in 40% in the number of Camhs beds that they can offer – 26 down to 16.

“Now, NHS London has said this is because of their financial envelope. But this will have a very real impact on so many young people.

“This provider has already been forced to reject more than 30 patients every month and their concern is, and it’s one I share, that these people will end up in A&E, they will have to go to medium-secure facilities if there’s no low-secure facilities available, or they’ll just be sent home because there’s nothing or nowhere that can help them.

“This is simply unacceptable and it cannot carry on.”

She asked for the Government to outline what extra steps it was taking to address the “bed shortage” in London and across the country.

Ms Berger went on: “The letter I received said that NHS London is going to reduce the number of beds even further.

“This is a very particular and significant concern. At least one in 10 children is thought to have a clinically significant mental health illness, which equates to 111,000 young people in London.

“The impacts of childhood psychiatric disorders cost London’s education system approximately £200 million a year.

“For people to be presenting at hospital, particularly to specialist mental health services, means their mental illness has usually become much more serious.

“Waiting until that point to address problems is not only worse but more expensive too, as it requires more specialist health care from other services.”

Replying for the Government, Health Minister Jane Ellison said the capital had the highest rates of mental ill health in the country.

Ms Ellison, who represents the London constituency of Battersea, said: “Some MPs spoke about the reasons for that – those things that we know are responsible – and others suggested alternative reasons.

“I would slightly guard against the over-use of the word ‘crisis’ and exaggerating to make a political point.

“To prepare for this debate, as the House would expect, I met some of the leading mental health clinicians in London and put some searching questions to them.

“I did not gain a sense of crisis, although we all gain the sense that this area has not been given sufficient attention in the past and needs to be given far more attention in the future.”

The Tory front-bencher said planned NHS spending on mental health is expected to increase by more than £300 million in 2014/15.

Ms Ellison noted the concern over race equality in mental health care, telling the Commons that a plan aiming to tackle inequalities was outlined in January 2014.

She said work is ongoing to find out why people from black and minority ethnic communities are less likely to access psychological therapies.

Ms Ellison went on: “NHS England has worked with Black Mental Health UK and has established a leadership programme for GP mental health leads for London.

“A BME taskforce is undertaking a root-and-branch review of mental health services in London, to ensure that they are equitable and free of ethnic bias.”

Ms Ellison also said £30 million will be invested over the next five years to improve services for young people with mental health problems.

There will be an emphasis on eating disorders, she said.

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