*For immediate release *
*Royal College of Psychiatrists' response to Government's Spending Review*
Professor Dinesh Bhugra, President of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, said:
"The ring-fencing of the NHS budget in the Spending Review is to be
welcomed, as are the promises to expand psychological therapies for
people with mental illness, provide treatment for mentally ill offenders
in the criminal justice system, protect the medical research budget, and
give an extra £2 billion for social care. However the NHS will still
have to make £20 billion of savings, which will put huge pressures on
services. Historically, mental health services have been an easy target
for cuts because mental health has been poorly understood and
stigmatised. It's a challenge to us all to ensure this does not happen
again.
"The RCPsych is most concerned that the mental health workforce should
not become deskilled by a lack of training opportunities, or become
demoralised by ill-thought out staffing cuts or service closures. These
would have a disastrous knock-on effect on individuals, society and the
wider economy.
"Efficiency savings do need to be found – but these must be informed by
a robust evidence base of what really works. The RCPsych, together with
other partners in mental health, will do all it can to safeguard the
quality of care for those with mental illness. We will do this by
seeking solutions to existing barriers to good care, and helping to
identify ways of streamlining systems and reducing waste."
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