Funding for Mental Health Services Rises in Real Terms. So Why the Crisis?
Unusually for the issue of mental health, it found its way into the headlines twice this week. In the first instance, the Royal College of Nursing revealed that staff cuts and bed shortages were leaving mental health services "under unprecedented strain", with 3,300 fewer posts in mental health nursing than in 2010 and a total of 2,179 beds cut since April 2011. At the same time, they said, demand had increased by 30%. Even in wards that remain, there is the problem of over-occupancy, with adult acute admission wards running at an average monthly occupancy level of 101% for the last two years. The Royal College of Psychiatrists say that the occupancy level should be 85%. Dr. Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said that such cuts risk making previous good work obsolete, and went on to say: "if staffing levels and services are cut back further, then services will continue to crumble, which would be a tragedy for us all, to say nothing of the t