Coronavirus: Pledge to boost spending on mental health is ‘absolute’, says NHS director

NHS England is planning for a surge in demand for help

The NHS is expecting a rise in demand for mental health services (Getty Images)

The NHS is preparing for a significant rise in demand for mental health services as a result of coronavirus and is re-examining spending plans to prioritise its response.

NHS England’s director of mental health Claire Murdoch has promised spending on mental health will not be cut to help other parts of the NHS, saying the commitment to investing £2.3bn of extra spending by 2023-24 was “absolute.”

Ms Murdoch, a registered mental health nurse and chief executive of the Central and North West London mental health trust, said NHS England was now modelling the predicted impact on services and would respond later this year.

She said: “As we move to the restoration and recovery phases of the Covid-19 response, it is important to note that our commitment to the mental health long-term plan ambition is absolute and will require continued joint working to deliver the changes in quality and access.

“There is consensus that there will be an increase in demand for mental health services. Modelling is underway, with involvement from NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England and experts, and this work will be available in the summer.”

Ms Murdoch said plans to expand services would remain but added: “We anticipate there may be a shift of emphasis with some resequencing, as we consider the Covid-19 context and expected needs of the population.”

Mental health services have hastened the roll-out of new crisis helplines, an example of the approach she wanted to maintain.

Local health services have been told to continue investing in mental health as the NHS prepares to publish updated guidance in the coming months.

In an interview with the Press Association Ms Murdoch said the number of people seeking help had dropped during the pandemic but that officials were ready to move “very, very fast” to respond to a surge in need.

There were 15,242 fewer referrals of children and young people for NHS

community mental health services in England in March, compared with

February, NHS England said – a 21-per-cent fall.

While the mental health impacts of the crisis are reaching all parts of

society, children and young people are the group the NHS is “watching

most carefully at the minute”, Ms Murdoch said.

But she said the NHS was worried about people not coming forward because they felt ”perhaps they don’t deserve to ask for help when the whole country is in the midst of a crisis”.

Ms Murdoch added: “We want people, if they are in any doubt at all, if they are struggling with their sleep, with their appetite, with unwelcome thoughts, if they are feeling despair or desperation, we want them to come forward.

“I want to say really loudly and clearly to those people, please do come

forward, please don’t undervalue your mental health, don’t suffer

unnecessarily.

Ms Murdoch and her NHS trust led the response to the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy in west London three years ago.

She said: “We will definitely be taking some of the extraordinary learning from Grenfell and feeding it into the national response.”