Call on the Chancellor to #BuildBetterMentalHealth

Email the Treasury to ask that mental health gets a fair share in the Comprehensive Spending Review

Please take a moment to complete the email below, which calls on the Chancellor to invest in improving mental health services in the Comprehensive Spending Review this Autumn. Full details are available in RCPsych’s report Next Steps for Funding Mental Healthcare in England

These emails are even more influential if you take the time to quickly edit them to give your own personal perspective. This could include:

Your experience of mental health services in your area, or the experiences of family or friends
Why you are passionate about better mental health care
Any examples of mental health facilities you have seen. These could be good examples showing what can be done with investment in mental health care or bad examples showing why we need more investment.

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Subject

Years of under-investment in the mental health estate have had a terrible effect on the treatment of People with a mental illness. The COVID-19 crisis has made this problem worse with old and overcrowded mental health wards increasing the risk of infection and contributing to the deterioration of patients' mental health. I am not alone in being concerned. A third of psychiatrists surveyed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists reported that the quality of mental health buildings has compromised care for patients during the pandemic. To contain the spread of COVID-19 it is vital that infected patients can be separated within healthcare settings. However, almost one in four psychiatrists surveyed said they work in buildings that are unsuitable for safely separating patients. The Comprehensive Spending Review is a chance to put this right. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has produced a detailed analysis called <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rcpsych.ac.uk%2Fimproving-care%2Fcampaigning-for-better-mental-health-policy%2Fnext-steps-for-funding-mental-healthcare-in-england&data=02%7C01%7CMinha.Fayoom%40rcpsych.ac.uk%7C77366ae48aa84afe4a3808d853d0c147%7C75aac48a29ab4230adac69d3e7ed3e77%7C1%7C0%7C637351503436364303&sdata=piBbK7n4WG0E1FqMGxWoGmY5esX8kJbNAvnGfLoJln0%3D&reserved=0">Next steps for funding mental health care in England</a> which I hope will be considered by Treasury officials. The report calls for a ring-fenced investment of an additional £2.96 billion for NHS mental health services between 2021/22 and 2024/25 which would include:
<ul>
<li>£100m for new building and redevelopment schemes for crisis mental health facilities, including the procurement of mental health ambulances/ transport vehicles</li>
<li>£250m to improve digital technology within mental health trusts</li>
<li>£510m for the first instalment of a new £1bn building and redevelopment programme for Mental Health to start 6 major schemes by 2024/25 with a commitment to deliver a further 6 by 2030 </li>
</ul>
This additional capital funding should be in addition to trusts’ day-to-day capital budgets and build on the momentum and previous targeted investment proposed for 2020/21 of £375.9m (including funding to eliminate dormitory provision). When taking this ring-fence investment of £3.34bn (in current prices) on top of mental health trusts' day-to-day capital budgets, the total investment would equate to £4.4bn by 2024/25.
I hope that the Treasury will be able to provide the resources we need to build world class facilities to treat patients with a mental illness.

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