BBC News: King’s Fund – ‘Shunted around the country’ – the coalition government has actually overseen a decline in spending on mental health

Hugh Pym of the BBC writes:

‘Shunted around the country’

The King’s Fund think tank says that the coalition government has actually overseen a decline in spending on mental health.

Its analysis suggests inflation-adjusted spending has decreased from £11.5bn in the 2010/11 financial year to £11.3 bn two years later which, given the increase in the population, they say means spending per head fell by a greater proportion.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said people would be sceptical of future promises from the deputy prime minister.

“He promised parity between mental and physical health, but ended up presiding over a situation where vulnerable people are forced to travel across the country for treatment and others kept in police cells because a short of beds.”

Of course, we in Norfolk and Suffolk know all about the Map of Shame.

Clegg’s party colleague, Norman Lamb, is our duplicitous local MP for North Norfolk, who:

• pretends to be in opposition when he is the government Minister of State at the Department of Health directly responsible for mental health
• pretends to be powerless when his government established NHS England and the CCGs
• says he believes in parity of esteem when he has cut funding for mental health (see above)
• pretends his Cashless Concordat will make a difference without resources
• claims to be against discrimination while ImROC is misused to stigmatise the most needy as ‘dependent’ and to cut services
• pretends to find what is happening at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) unacceptable whilst doing nothing about it
• claims to believe in the integration of health and social care as it disintegrates
• claims to believe in the NHS whilst writing to NHS trusts encouraging them to leave the NHS
• refused to talk to people who use mental health services, carers and staff when we demonstrated outside his Cashless Concordat launch at Carrow Road.

[Click on the blue text to find out more about each example of Lamb’s duplicity]

Norman Lamb is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; his claim to be a champion of those who rely on mental health services is nauseating.

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