Mental Health Strategy

One in four people are likely to experience a serious mental illness in their lifetime. It could affect any of us and mental health problems are now the largest single cause of absence from work and leaving work. Most people start claiming Incapacity Benefit but the shocking expectation is that if someone is on Incapacity Benefit for more than 6 months then its unlikely that they will be working within eight years.

Most health resources are tied to secondary services ie acute hospital care etc and little has been done to improve preventative action or the quality of support in primary care. Some agencies like the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are now taking stress management much more seriously and advising companies how to prevent staff leaving work because of stress.

The National Service Framework (NSF) is a 3 year strategy produced by the Department of Health and which is implemented locally by Health and local authorities within each Borough. Each Borough has developed their own plan, based on local circumstances, and submitted it to the Department of Health. The plans have to be updated annually and need to state how local services will assist people with mental health needs. The NSF is organised into 7 different 'standards'. Standard 1 is all about social exclusion and covers employment, housing, and education. A local Health Promotion Strategy has also been developed under this standard.

The plan is implemented by a Local Implementation Team (LIT) largely made up of Health and Social Services. It is not totally clear how decision making on these issues is undertaken in Bury. Little work seems to have been done to encourage the wider range of organisations to participate. The LIT should involve all those agencies, forums and individuals who have a stake in ensuring that people with mental health needs have an equal opportunity to get a real job and keep it. This includes the BuryMetro, Health services, Connexions, local education and training providers, housing providers, user networks, employers, voluntary agencies etc.

Bury Primary Care Trust has a directory of mental health services available on its website.

There are a number of documents available for downloading including the framework itself. In 2004, the Social Exclusion Unit produced a report on mental health and social exclusion that was very influential but had no resources attached to implement its recommendations. This work is being taken further by the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) and their regional offices are trying to improve the range and quality of services.

Bury has produced a NSF Report and Action Plan. Further information is available from the Department of Health who have a dedicated unit to oversee the framework.

Bury EST has a number of concerns about the provision of mental health services in Bury. We would like to see much more emphasis on health promotion and access to occupational health services. We believe that there is a strong case for providing local job retention support in local health centres and a clearer focus to rehabilitation services so that people are supported back into work.