Labour and Mental Health

Mental illness 'biggest UK health challenge' - Miliband Mr Miliband says "vast changes" are needed across society to tackle mental illness Continue reading the main story Related Stories Global call on mental health care MP mental health ban to be axed Labour: We got under Tories' skin The problem of mental illness in the UK is the "biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age", Labour leader Ed Miliband is to say in a speech later. It "blights the lives of millions", costing UK business £26bn and the NHS an extra £10bn a year, he is to say. Mr Miliband wants to give patients the same legal right to mental health therapies as physical healthcare. Mental illness is "a taboo which must be broken if we are to rebuild Britain", he is expected to say. Mr Miliband is giving his first major speech since the Labour Party conference where he adopted the "one nation" slogan created by 19th Century Tory Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. He will say that just as Disraeli addressed the national challenge of sanitation in the 19th Century, and the foundation of the NHS followed in the 20th Century, the mental health challenge facing the UK must be addressed this century. "One in four of us will have a mental illness at some point in our lifetime," Mr Miliband will say. "There are so many people in Britain today who could be treated but who are intimidated from seeking help. And so many people who need support but... believe that no-one will care. "For far too long our leading politicians have been far too silent about mental health, part of a taboo running across our society which infects both our culture and our politics. "It is a taboo which not only blights the lives of millions but also puts severe strain on the funding of our NHS and threatens Britain's ability to pay our way in the world. "It is a taboo which must be broken if we are to rebuild Britain as one nation." Taskforce Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Good mental health doesn't start in hospital or the treatment room, it starts in our workplaces, our schools and our communities” The following article is from the BBC web site Ed Miliband Labour Party leader He will announce proposals to improve mental health provision in the NHS, including: Rewriting the NHS constitution to enshrine patients' legal right to therapies for mental illness Mental health training for all staff Better integration of physical and mental healthcare, and social care Neglecting the problem ends up costing the NHS more, Mr Miliband will argue, "in the strains and demands placed on those who carry the burden of care and in the trouble stored up over the years as minor problems become major ones". Meanwhile, the annual costs to UK business are £15bn in reduced productivity, £8.5bn in sickness absence, and £2.5bn to replace staff who can no longer work. The Labour leader is setting up a taskforce - led by the chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust, Stephen O'Brien - to draw up a strategic plan for mental health in society. Mr Miliband will say: "Too often governments have been stuck in a mindset that thought that physical health should always take priority - or that the answer to our health crises started and stopped with new government programmes. "But good mental health doesn't start in hospital or the treatment room, it starts in our workplaces, our schools and our communities. "So the task falls as much to organisations like the CBI as it does to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In fact, everybody has a part to play. Only a nation acting together can overcome the challenge we face."