Mental Health Services

Norman Lamb
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the level of implementation of the National Service Framework for mental health; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope
No recent assessment has been made of the level of implementation of the National Service Framework (NSF). However, we know that the NSF has led to an impressive range of policy initiatives in a previously neglected area of service provision. We have seen many benefits for people who use mental health services in the form of more money, with real terms investment in adult mental health services increasing by 44 per cent. (or £1.7 billion), since 2001-02. We also know that more patients have been helped, with crisis resolution teams providing over 106,000 home treatments to patients in the year 2007-08.

Further, because of the NSF the national health service now has 64 per cent. more consultant psychiatrists, 71 per cent. more clinical psychologists and 21 per cent. more mental health nurses than it had in 1997, and over 740 new community mental health teams offering home treatment, early intervention, or intensive support for people who might otherwise have been admitted to hospital.