The prime minister’s focus on mental health can only be welcomed, says Dr Bernard Trafford. But will the government back up the rhetoric with proper funding?

Prime minister Theresa May is on a mission to tackle “some of the burning injustices that undermine the solidarity of our society”. Earlier this month, she made a major speech to the Charity Commission: but her target audience was the whole nation.

There was a big statement on mental health. Her plan is to seize a “historic opportunity to right a wrong, and give people ... the attention and treatment they deserve”. She pledged to remove the stigma of mental illness and devote resource and treatment equal to that given to other health problems.

Secondary school staff will be offered Mental Health First Aid training. There will be new trials (unspecified, but led by the Care Quality Commission) to strengthen links between schools and local NHS mental health staff. Mental health campaigner Lord Stephenson and Paul Farmer, chief executive of the charity Mind, will carry out a review on improving support in the workplace. There will be an extra
£15 million towards a focus on community care, with less emphasis on patients visiting GPs and A&E and expanded online services to allow symptom checks before patients seek a face-to-face appointment.

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