| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Dec 2008 : Column 909W—continued
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to improve progress towards standard 6 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. [240722]
Phil Hope: Our vision is that all carers will be respected as expert care partners and will have access to the integrated and personalised services they need to support them in their caring role.
The Carers' Strategy, ‘Carers at the Heart of 21st Century Families and Communities’, published in June 2008 (a copy of which has already been placed in the Library), makes it clear that carers of all ages should not have to ignore personal health concerns and needs because their caring role does not allow the time to address them. The services and support available to carers should be such to enable them to stay as mentally and physically well as possible throughout their caring role, from young carers through to older carers.
The strategy therefore makes the commitment to pilot annual health checks for carers in a number of primary care trust (PCT) areas. It was envisaged in the strategy that they will focus on carers in the highest intensity roles. Health checks should give both carers and health professionals an opportunity to detect and deal with, at an early stage, any problems the carer may have.
By December 2006 there were 796 mental health carer support workers in place to increase the breaks available for carers and to strengthen carer support networks.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients are being treated in medium secure mental health services. [243152]
Phil Hope: The data collected record the numbers of mental health and learning disability secure unit beds in national health service units only, and the data include high, medium and some low secure units. These figures only show NHS beds and not those commissioned by the NHS and provided by independent sector providers.
The following table shows the average availability and daily occupancy of NHS secure unit beds, and learning disability secure unit beds in NHS units in England in 2007-08.
| Average daily number of mental health and learning disability secure unit beds in NHS units—2007-08 | |
| Number | |
| Note: The definitions of Mental Health and Learning Disability Secure Unit Beds, for the purposes of the KH03 annual beds collection, are: Mental Illness—Other ages, Secure unit an AGE GROUP INTENDED of National Code 8 ‘Any age’, a BROAD PATIENT GROUP CODE of National Code 5 ‘Patients with mental illness’ and a CLINICAL CARE INTENSITY of National Code 51 ‘for intensive care: specially designated ward for patients needing containment and more intensive management’. This is not to be confused with intensive nursing where a patient may require one to one nursing while on a standard ward. Learning disabilities—Other ages, Secure unit an AGE GROUP INTENDED of National Code 8 ‘Any age’, a BROAD PATIENT GROUP CODE of National Code 6 ‘Patients with learning difficulties’ and a CLINICAL CARE INTENSITY of National Code 61 ‘designated or interim secure unit’. Source: Department of Health Dataset KH03 | |
Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the findings of the Healthcare Commission's report on the 2006 national census of inpatients in mental health and learning disability services, Count Me In, with respect to the diagnosis, medication and accommodation of patients from ethnic minorities. [242374]
Phil Hope: The Healthcare Commission published its report on the 2008 Count Me In census on 27 November. Count Me In does not collect information about patients' diagnosis or medication.
We welcomed the report and concur with its principal conclusions. Mental health services still need to do more to meet the needs of diverse communities and tackle inequalities in mental health. Our Delivering Race Equality action plan, supported by over 400 new community development workers across the country, has already helped to deliver progress and remains the blueprint for services to follow.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to improve mental health provision in the Asian community; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of those steps. [242377]
Phil Hope: In 2005 the Department launched 'Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care' (DRE). DRE is a five year action plan designed to improve black and minority ethnic (BME) communities' experience of mental health services, including that of Asian communities.
There has been significant progress. The DRE programme has helped to develop replicable good practice around tailored pathways of care for BME service users—for example, the collaboration between the Sheffield mental health crisis resolution and home treatment service and the local Pakistani Muslim Centre. New training in race equality for mental health staff has been tested successfully and made available nationally. The pilot project in Newham, East London, of the programme improving access to psychological therapies has demonstrated that Asian and other BME communities can have equal access to, and equal outcomes from, the new services. Primary care trusts have so far recruited over 400 new community development workers, whose role is to build links between local BME communities and mental health services and to help communities play a part in planning and providing those services.
We do, though, believe that the national health service still must do more to meet the needs of increasingly diverse local populations, particularly by delivering early and equitable access to effective community-based interventions. These issues will stay a priority for services for the duration of the DRE programme and beyond.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether his Department has commissioned research into mental health problems amongst Asian women in England; [242378]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to address the stigma attached to mental health problems in the Asian community. [242379]
Phil Hope: The Department's National Institute for Health Research is not currently funding research of this kind. The 2002 survey of Ethnic Minority Psychiatric Illness Rates in the Community (EMPIRIC) provided estimates of the prevalence of common mental disorders and psychosis, information on social support and information on access to services. Estimates are provided for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library and is on the Department's website at:
The Department's Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care programme (DRE) is helping to raise awareness among black and minority ethnic communities of mental health issues and to develop services more sensitive to communities' particular needs. It is also collaborating with Shift, the Department's five-year campaign addressing stigma and mental health.
In November 2008 Shift launched the award-winning short film ‘Open Secrets’, about the stigma surrounding mental illness in the Asian community. The film has been dubbed into Gujarati and Hindi. ‘Open Secrets’ is intended to be used by DRE's network of community development workers and as a tool to influence Asian media, health and social care organisations and policymakers. Shift and DRE will promote the film at regional and local screenings in community and health and social care contexts to raise awareness and promote discussion. The film will be available on the internet from 1 April 2009.
Shift has also commissioned the consultancy Ethnic Communications to carry out a qualitative research project looking at how mental health stories are portrayed in the South Asian media. This work will be published at the DRE national conference in March 2009.
Mental Health Services: Prisons
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the prison health care budget was spent on mental health care during the last financial year. [240693]
Phil Hope: Commissioning responsibility for mental health care and treatment within the prison estate transferred fully to primary care trusts in 2006.
Investment in health services provided to prisons increased from £118 million in 2002-03 to nearly £200 million in 2007-08. By 2005-06, nearly £20 million was being invested recurrently in mental health in-reach services. There are now 102 mental health in-reach teams and all prisons now have access to them.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards achieving the target of a waiting time of 14 days for the transfer of prisoners with severe mental illness to hospital; and if he will make a statement. [240712]
Phil Hope: The Department is currently exploring ways to make progress towards the 14 day standard waiting time for transfer through the provision of guidance and support for the national health service and Criminal Justice System to work in closer partnership together, and reduce delays for this very vulnerable group.
We have asked Lord Bradley to consider the diversion of offenders with mental health problems and learning disabilities away from prison and we expect his report to be available next year.
Mental Illness
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recommendations relevant to his Department’s policy responsibilities made in the Foresight report on Mental Capacity and Well-Being, with particular reference to the costs to the NHS of managing mental ill health; and if he will make a statement. [244029]
Phil Hope: The Government welcome the findings of the Foresight research report into mental capital and well-being, in particular, its emphasis on enabling people to realise increased mental well-being. We recognise the significant cost of mental ill health to the economy as a whole. Since 2001-02, our investment in adult mental health services has increased by 44 per cent. or £1.7 billion, to £5.53 billion.
We are already taking forward action in a number of ways consistent with the report’s conclusions. For example, we are investing significantly in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, with annual funding rising to £173 million in the third year (2010-11), to train 3,600 extra therapists and treat 900,000 more people in those three years.
The Foresight report will continue to inform the development of mental health policy, in particular, the new policy framework that will succeed the mental health national service framework.
Mentally Ill: Cannabis
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital admissions on mental health grounds resulting from the use of cannabis there were in each year since 1997, broken down by strategic health authority area. [242409]
Dawn Primarolo: The information has been placed in the Library.
Midwives
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births per whole-time equivalent NHS midwife there were in each year since 2001, broken down by primary care trust area. [243628]
Ann Keen: Information is not collected in the format requested. The following table has the number of births per whole-time midwife in each year since 2001, broken down by strategic health authority.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |