Memorandum by NHS London EU Unit
"By health I mean the power to live
a full, adult, living, breathing life in close contact with what
I love ... I want to be all that I am capable of becoming"
Katherine Mansfield[70]
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
The EU should:
— Use its role in relation to employment
and workplaces to:
— Promote awareness of Emotional
Wellbeing.
— Encouraging the better management
of mental illness at work.
— Increase the employment rates
of people with mental illness.
— Promote the development of "one
stop shops" where people can access information about and
assistance with emotional wellbeing and mental illness, and related
issues (eg housing, finance, physical healthcare) in non-stigamitising
settings.
— Support the active engagement of
people who use mental illness services in their design and delivery.
— Encourage the exchange of information
to support effective and culturally sensitive help for migrants
and others from minority ethnic groups who have mental health
problems or mental illness.
— Support local initiatives to challenge
stigma and discrimination about mental illness.
— Promote the use of emotional wellbeing
impact assessments in policy development and implementation.
PREPARATION OF
THIS CONTRIBUTION
This contribution on behalf of the NHS and Regional
Public Health Group London and other stakeholders is based on
discussions with individuals, and following a seminar in April
2006. A list of contributors is included as Appendix A.
RESPONSES TO
THE COMMITTEE'S
QUESTIONS
1. Is an EU strategy on Mental Health
appropriate?
1.1 An EU strategy is ethically, socially
and economically appropriate.
1.2 People with mental illness experience
varying degrees of exclusion and ill treatment. Stigma, discrimination
and exclusion in relation to employment affect the prosperity
of individuals and nations. Increasing sickness absence due to
mental illness limits the ability of the EU to deliver the Lisbon
Agenda.
1.3 The Commission should:
1.3.1 Recognise the importance of dignity
and humanity in a future Emotional Wellbeing (EW) strategy.
1.3.2 Challenge stigma, discrimination and
social exclusion due to Mental Illness (MI).
1.3.3 Consider EW as central to achieving
the Lisbon agenda (including an employment rate of 70 per cent
for adults of working age).
2. What elements might an EU Mental
Health strategy contain?
2.1 Promotion of mental health of all:
2.1.1 The EU should promote evidence-based
guidance for improving young people's EW.
2.1.2 The EU should use its role in relation
to health and safety at work, and its procurement practice to:
2.1.2.1 Support innovations and promote
awareness of EW through the workplace.
2.1.2.2 Encourage employers to design and
implement interventions to support employees with Mental Health
Problems (MHP) and MI.
2.1.3 The EU should encourage provision
better information to older people to promote their EW.
2.1.4 The EU should encourage the sharing
of information about cultural attitudes to MI, and how to work
with ethnic minorities to help member states promote EW with them.
2.1.5 An EW strategy should pay attention
to the EW and MI needs of prisoners, and training for those working
in the criminal justice system.
2.1.6 The EU should help member states to
share their experience of challenging stigma and discrimination
effectively.
2.2 Tackle mental illness:
2.2.1 An EW strategy should consider the
resources needed to build the capacity of non-statutory organisations
who provide EW and MI services.
2.2.2 An EW strategy should promote the
development of "one stop shops" for emotional wellbeing
and mental illness in non-stigmatising settings.
2.3 Increase social inclusion, and equality
of opportunity and health care for people with mental illness.
2.4 The EU should support locally designed
and delivered campaigns to challenge stigma.
2.4.1 The EU should:
2.4.1.1 continue to support schemes which
help people with mental illness gain and retain work; and
2.4.1.2 promote procurement initiatives
which encourage employing people with a mental illness.
2.4.2 The EU should promote equality of
public health interventions and physical healthcare for people
with mental illness.
2.4.3 The Commission should use the Daphne
II Programme of the DG Employment and Social Affairs (which considers
domestic violence) as a good example of how EW needs can be considered
across policy areas.
2.4.4 An EW strategy should support pan-EU
networks of service users and carers, and promote their involvement
in designing and delivering services.
2.5 Improve knowledge and information sharing
between members states and regions
2.5.1 An EU EW strategy should include:
2.5.1.1 EU wide networks to share good practice
and research, and support exchange visits.
2.5.1.2 The development of a web based EU
portal for EW.
2.5.2 An EU EW strategy should encourage
networks of EU capital cities to consider EW and the needs of
migrants.
2.5.3 Eurostat should consider making comparisons
on EW indicators between cities only, towns only and rural areas
only across the EU.
3. How might a Mental Health Strategy
compliment and add value to the strategies of member states, the
World Health Organisation, and other international bodies?
3.1 The EU should:
3.1.1 Lead by example on EW by ensuring
all Directorates General use an EW impact assessment of new policies.
3.1.2 Consider how EW impact assessment
might be integrated within the wider Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA) directive.
3.1.3 Actively engage in dialogue on EW
with a range of organisations across the EU including business
and community groups.
3.2 The EU should continue and use existing
platforms for EW supported by an expert advisory group.
APPENDIX A
Contributions are gratefully acknowledged
from the following:
|
| Name | Organisation
|
|
| Alexandra Turney | Rethink |
| Suzanne Collins | London Development Centre (Core User Survivor Group)
|
| Brian Dawn | Mind in Camden
|
| Mark Brangwyn | Association for London Government
|
| David Shaer | Oxleas MH Trust
|
| Joan Penrose | Carer |
| Sanja Stevic | Learning and Skills Council—London South
|
| Aideen Silke | London Development Agency
|
| Eric Carrington | Carer |
| Grant Pettitt | Greater London Authority
|
| Rebecca Smith | Greater London Authority
|
| Hilary Guite | Greenwich Primary Care Trust
|
| Stuart Bell | South London and Maudsley NHS Trust
|
| Jagadish Jha | London Development Centre (Core User Survivor Group)
|
| Claire Helman | Community Service Volunteers
|
| Rabbia Khan | Enfield Primary Care Trust
|
| Caroline Reid | North West London Strategic Health Authority
|
| Peter Spelman | Redbridge Primary Care Trust
|
| Tony Jones | London First |
| Paul Gocke | London Development Centre
|
| Philip Cohen | London Borough of Croydon
|
| John Bowis | MEP (London) |
| Jose Westgeest | NHS London EU Unit
|
| Jenny Lee Spencer | NHS London EU Unit
|
| Sean Duggan | Health and Criminal Justice Programme
|
| Paul de Ponte | London Health Observatory
|
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