Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for mental-health services for Surrey Heath residents, and Michael met Fiona Edwards, its Chief Executive, on 27 September 2019 to discuss the challenges the Trust is facing and its plans for the future.
Demands on services have greatly increased, particularly involving children and young people. One in ten children and young people have a diagnosable mental-health condition, and Michael knows from his own casework that many families in Surrey Heath are badly affected.
More recently, in January 2022, Michael held a virtual meeting with the interim Chief Executive of Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Graham Wareham, to discuss local services in Surrey Heath. Michael then wrote a follow-up letter to Mr Wareham to enquire about specific statistics relating to the increase in demand on services, and he will share further news once a response is received.
At the bottom of this page you will find a Mental Health booklet with information and advice on how to look after your mental wellbeing. You will also find a separate booklet with advice drawn up especially for younger people who may be in need of support.
Funding
Michael is campaigning for better support for child and adolescent mental-health care and as part of the Government’s five-year funding offer agreed in 2019, the annual NHS budget will grow by over £33.9 billion, and mental-health services are to receive an additional £2.3 billion p.a.
The Government has also made a commitment of around £2 billion to address waiting times for mental-health services: to give more people the mental health support they need; to invest in the NHS workforce, and to help to ease existing pressures in the NHS caused by Covid-19.
In the 2021 Spending Review, it was announced there would be a new investment of £150 million in NHS mental health facilities linked to A&E, and to enhance patient safety in mental-health units. Additionally, around £300 million will be spent on completing the programme to replace mental-health dormitories with single en suite rooms. The Spending Review also included the commitment to support ground-breaking innovative research, establishing the UK as a life-sciences superpower. This includes £95 million for the Office for Life Sciences, which will support the launch of the Prime Minister’s Healthcare mission on mental health.