Memorandum by British Medical Association
Thank you for giving the British Medical Association
the opportunity to contribute to the inquiry by the Committee.
The BMA supports the Green Paper, and the recognition central
to it that good mental health is vital to physical well being.
It is essential that the proposals in the Green
Paper are adequately funded for it to achieve its aims. The BMA
is also concerned that discrepancies between mental health legislation
in member states could potentially hamper the Green Paper.
The BMA would like to highlight the need for
better pay and conditions and other incentives in some countries,
in order to encourage the mental health workforce to remain where
they are most needed. We would also like to see more EU support
of mental health non-governmental organisations in the central
European member countries to further improve mental healthcare
provision.
The BMA feels that the following points are
not sufficiently covered in the Green Paper:
— That those suffering from mental
health problems often need State financial support.
— Alcohol and/or substance misuse.
This should be included on page 4, section 2.
— The benefits of good nutrition and
regular exercise should be addressed on page 8, section 6.1.1.
— Stress caused by career or loss of
income. Page 9, paragraph 1 fails to mention the adverse effects
of stress in the workplace on cardiovascular disease.[18]
— The state of mental health institutions,
which is relatively poor in many countries.
— Prisons and mental health.
18 Hemingway H & Marmot M (1999) Evidence based
cardiology: Psychosocial factors in the aetiology and prognosis
of coronary heart disease: systematic review of prospective cohort
studies BMJ 318: 1460-7. Back
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