Have your say on the government’s 10-year plan for mental health

A call for evidence has opened to inform a new 10 year plan to level up mental health across the country and put mental and physical health on an equal footing.

The government hopes that the public, those with lived experience of mental ill-health, and health and care professionals will share views on how support and services should adapt for the future. The intention is that by seeking views on what can be improved within the current service, particularly in light of the pandemic which has led to record levels of people seeking treatment, a new 10-year mental health plan and a refreshed national suicide prevention plan will be developed.

Too many people, particularly our children and young people, do not have the tools and support they need to look after their wellbeing or prevent mental health problems from escalating.

The 10-year plan forms part of the government’s wider commitments to ‘build back fairer’, and forms a key part of the commitments to address health disparities across the country and to improve the mental wellbeing of the nation. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The pandemic put unprecedented pressure on people across the country. While we continue to expand and transform our mental health services under the NHS Long Term Plan to meet rising demand, we know we need to go further. Too many people, particularly our children and young people, do not have the tools and support they need to look after their wellbeing or prevent mental health problems from escalating. We all have a role to play in resetting the way we approach mental health and our new 10-year plan will set an ambitious agenda for where we want the mental health of the nation to be a decade from now.”

The government has chosen (in consultation with stakeholders and people with lived experience) to focus their questions on 6 key areas:

1. How can we all promote positive mental wellbeing?
2. How can we all prevent the onset of mental health conditions?
3. How can we all intervene earlier when people need support with their mental health?
4. How can we improve the quality and effectiveness of treatment for mental health?
5. How can we all support people with mental health conditions to live well?
6. How can we all improve support for people in crisis?

download the full discussion paper

Each chapter of the full discussion paper provides more context for why they are focussing on that area and sets out the key challenges that will need to be addressed through the 10-year plan. We will be responding to the call for evidence, in part using our ‘It’s not just physical’ mental health report from 2021 and responses to the What Matters? survey from 2022.

If you would like to contribute your thoughts and views to this consultation, please email Dave Bracher, our Campaigns Manager, by Friday 24 June and we’ll be happy to incorporate these responses into our submission.

Thank you very much for your support.