Mental health: the need for better services and why we must tackle stigma

At today's meeting of Leicester City Council I will be proposing the following motion. I want to see better mental health services and a continued and unrelenting effort to tackle the stigma associated with mental illness in society.

Passing a council motion won't do that, but it will set out our commitment to take actions that will.

In the past year or so I have attended Mental Health Summits, organised by local organisations and Jon Ashworth MP. There is a real determination in Leicester to see better services and a strengthened approach to mental health and wellbeing. For World Mental Health Day I wrote a column for the Leicester Mercury on why we must tackle stigma and discrimination.


Motion for debate at Leicester City Council, 23 January 2014
Local authorities’ Mental Health Challenge

This council notes:

• 1 in 6 people will experience a mental health problem in any given year.
• Leicester’s joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy identifies improving mental health and emotional resilience as a key priority.
• The World Health Organisation predicts that depression will be the second most common health condition worldwide by 2020.
• Mental ill health costs some £105 billion each year in England alone.
• People with a severe mental illness die up to 20 years younger than their peers in the UK.
• There is often a circular relationship between mental health and issues such as housing, employment, family problems or debt.

 This council believes:

• As a local authority we have a crucial role to play in improving the mental health of everyone in our community and tackling some of the widest and most entrenched inequalities in health.
• Mental health should be a priority across all the local authority’s functions, from public health, adult social care and children’s services to housing, planning and public realm.
• All councillors, whether members of the Executive or Scrutiny and in our community and casework roles, can play a positive role in championing mental health on an individual and strategic basis and in challenging stigma.

This council resolves:

• To sign the Local Authorities Mental Health Challenge run by Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Foundation, Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, Royal College of Psychiatrists and Young Minds. We commit to: 

1. Appoint an elected member as “mental health champion” across the council.
2. Identify a “lead officer” for mental health to link in with colleagues across the council.
3. Follow the implementation framework for the mental health strategy where it is relevant to the council’s work and local needs.
4. Work to reduce inequalities in mental health in our community.
5. Work with the NHS to integrate health and social care support.
6. Promote wellbeing and initiate and support action on public mental health.
7. Tackle discrimination on the grounds of mental health in our community and to tackle stigma.
8. Encourage positive mental health in our schools, colleges and workplaces.
9. Proactively engage and listen to people of all ages and backgrounds about what they need for better mental health.
10. Sign up to the Time to Change pledge.

Leicester City Council meetings are webcast live so you can view the debate at the Council meeting which starts at 5:00pm.

World Mental Health Day | Leicester Mercury column

Column for the Leicester Mercury for World Mental Health Day.

Thursday this week is World Mental Health Day. This is an important and timely occasion to consider the city’s approach to mental health.

Good mental health is as important as good physical health and this should be a guiding principle of all those organisations providing health services in Leicester. In recent years we have seen improvements in the NHS approach to mental health but there is much more to do. Much of what the NHS does for mental health problems does not share the same limelight as services for physical illness.

This has to change. There remains an urgent need to push mental health services beyond their historic Cinderella status in the NHS. There are two reasons why this is vital. First, because anyone accessing services for mental health problem deserves nothing but the best. I want mental health services in our NHS and in Leicester to be the best. This should not just be an expectation but our challenge to organisations providing services.

The second reason is that we need to shift perceptions and understanding of mental health in society. There remains a stubborn stigma around mental illness. Take the recent examples of two major supermarket chains selling ‘Mental Patient’ and ‘Psycho Ward’ fancy dress costumes. These offensive products led to a public backlash and both costumes were withdrawn from sale and the supermarket companies made donations to mental health charities.

This example illustrates the challenge we still face in tackling stigma and securing a more positive, mature and understanding approach to mental health in society. It remains too easy for some to slip back into clumsy language and a view of mental illness that is of a bygone era.

I am determined that here in Leicester we work to be a city that challenges stigma, properly understands mental health and has an ambitious approach to better mental health and wellbeing. Improving mental health is one of five key priorities set out in the city’s joint health and wellbeing strategy which was agreed and adopted by partners, including the city council, in April this year.

The city’s health and wellbeing board will work with partners including the city council, GPs, hospital trusts, voluntary groups and patients to make this happen. Mental health services in Leicester need to meet the expectations of patients and the whole community.

Challenging stigma and improving levels of understanding and awareness of mental illness requires a collective effort across different organisations. World Mental Health Day is a useful opportunity to reflect on the importance of this task but to also to reaffirm our commitment and determination to address it.

This column was first appeared in the Leicester Mercury, 10 October 2013.

Bold decisions are needed on health

Earlier this week I published a letter in the Leicester Mercury calling on the Government to show more ambition on public health. This follows decisions not to proceed with minimum unit alcohol pricing or plain packaging for cigarettes.

I agree with the Mercury Opinion "Decisions on public health are wrong" (July 23).

The Government's recent decisions not to proceed with minimum unit pricing for alcohol or plain packaging for cigarettes raise serious questions.

Based on these decisions it is clear this Government has no ambition when it comes to public health.

To make significant improvements to public health and to tackle long-term illness and preventable deaths, governments need to be bold and radical.

The big decisions necessary will always be controversial and generate heated debate.

Take, for example, the ban on smoking in public places. This law has had a significant and positive impact on public health.

I remember well the controversy this created at the time, as well as the criticism the then Labour Government faced for proposing this radical and reforming legislation.

In Leicester, we are determined to see public health improve.

The city council, together with its partners, will continue to invest in its successful stop smoking campaigns.

Smoking is the UK's biggest killer and Leicester has a smoking rate higher than the national average.

Our aim is to see Leicester as a smoke-free city by 2035. This is a bold and ambitious target.

Sadly, the Government appears not to share our ambition as moving to plain packaging would have had a major impact on reducing smoking, as shown by evidence from other countries.

In 2010-11, there were more than 6,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions in Leicester. Health partners in the city are determined to address this problem and ensure a good range of services for people affected by alcohol misuse.

Minimum pricing could have played a big role in reducing the misuse of alcohol.

There are significant health challenges in Leicester. The council and NHS partners are determined to see improvements and to help residents lead healthier lives.

From my discussions with organisations and residents, I know there is a shared commitment in the city to improve health and to tackle health inequalities.

While the Government shies away from the bold decisions needed on public health, locally we will continue to set out ambitious plans to improve the health of our city.

Rory Palmer
Deputy City Mayor

This letter was first published in the Leicester Mercury, 25 July 2013.

Health & Wellbeing Board's first meeting

Last week I chaired the first meeting of the city's new Health & Wellbeing Board.

Health & Wellbeing Board's were formed following the government's NHS reforms and bring together local councils, Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS England, HealthWatch and other partners.

At this first meeting we endorsed Closing the Gap, a new health strategy for the city.

Leicester Mercury article following the first Health & Wellbeing Board meeting.

New community gardening project in Eyres Monsell

We are pleased to be launching a new project in Eyres Monsell this week in partnership with BBC Radio Leicester.

As part of BBC Leicester's summer campaign to get more people growing their own food, we are launching 'Blooming Eyres Monsell.'

We want to get more people growing their own food in Eyres Monsell, which is good for health, can save money on shopping bills and is good fun for families.

BBC Radio Leicester's Ben Jackson and Ady Dayman will be visiting Eyres Monsell to give away seeds to local residents to help get thing started. These seeds are for tomatoes, lettuce, sweetcorn and runner beans. As councillors we have agreed to fund some gardening starter kits including pots and tools.

This project will also see the creation of a new community vegetable patch at Eyres Monsell Community Centre. We are looking for residents and volunteers to help with this.

To get your free seeds and to find out more about this project come along to Eyres Monsell Community Centre tomorrow (Wednesday 17 April) from 5:30pm.

BBC Radio Leicester's Ben Jackson and gardener Ady Dayman will be there to answer your questions and help get this project started.

With BBC gardener Ady Dayman, fellow
Councillor Virginia Cleaver and BBC Leicester's Ben Jackson
at Eyres Monsell Community Centre.

Leicester Mental Health Summit

I was pleased to speak at the Mental Health summit on Friday organised by Jon Ashworth MP.

I have always felt very strongly about mental health and specifically the need for politicians, policy-makers and society in general to talk more about mental health and wellbeing.

I am determined that the new Health and Wellbeing Board in Leicester - which I chair - and the city council makes mental health a key priority. Mental health, wellbeing and emotional resilience will be one of the strategic priorities in the new Health Strategy for the city which will be published in the coming weeks.

In my speech I made clear the Health and Wellbeing Board's commitment to high quality provision for mental health and work to improve mental wellbeing across the city. I also called on all councillors to be champions for mental health.

At any one time around 30,000 people of working age in Leicester will have a mental illness. We have real expertise and innovation across the city's voluntary sector and the challenge is matching this provision with the statutory services to make sure we have broad, co-ordinated and high quality care pathways and provision meeting the needs and aspirations of service users and our communities.

Speaking at the Mental Health Summit
(photo, www.jonashworth.org)

Friday's summit in Leicester, which included participants from the statutory and voluntary sectors, was an important opportunity to discuss mental health provision and what more can be done.

For more coverage of the summit see Jon Ashworth's website.

News article from a visit I made to Network for Change in Leicester when I was cabinet member at the city council for adult social care, with then MP Peter Soulsby.

Your Britain policy discussion on health and social care

Without doubt one of the most important challenges for policy-makers today is social care.

Securing a financially sustainable model for providing care for the elderly is an urgent challenge. The ageing population is a challenge dominating the policy landscape and carries with it many complexities.  We will see dramatic increases in the numbers of people living with dementia. Expectations of care services will change overtime and people will expect care services to meet their individual needs and aspirations.

It was very interesting to discuss these issues and others with Labour Party members in Erewash recently. Local councillor Claire Neill organised a policy forum meeting to address a number of questions currently part of Labour's Policy Review.

Discussing the NHS and social care policy with
members of Erewash Labour Party.

Labour's Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has recently begun to talk about the concept of Whole Person Care. Having read Andy's speech to the King's Fund where he unveiled this approach, and having discussed it recently with Shadow Minister Liz Kendall, I am convinced there is real merit in taking this approach forward. It could define the next era of thinking around health and social care. 

Interestingly, the meeting of Labour members in Erewash, voted overwhelmingly in favour of full integration of health and care budgets.