World Mental Health Day

Mental health is one of the urgent needs of our time. While mental illness accounts for 23% of the total burden of ill health in the UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists reports that only 6.1% of the UK’s health research budget is spent on mental health.

The Government funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). NIHR does not typically ring-fence funding for specific conditions but it accepts applications for research into any aspect of human health. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.

Government priorities, nevertheless, have a significant role in determining both what and how research is produced. I believe Ministers should have a whole-Government plan for improving mental health outcomes for children and adults and give mental health its fair share of funding. I hope they will consider the points raised by the mental health research charity MQ and others.

Last year, Ministers delayed £2 billion in annual spending on research and development (R&D). And at the Spring Statement there was no mention of mental health research. I am concerned that the delay in spending on R&D will result in billions of lost private sector investment. Many programmes remain in the dark about the funding on offer and find it impossible to plan ahead.

The UK sees great returns on research funding, both in terms of the economy and the positive impact for those who rely on breakthroughs in treatment. Just as we need to renew public funding and support for the NHS, we also need to renew public funding and support for research as a public good.

I want to see, across our economy, and counting private sector investment as well as public sector, 3% of GDP being invested in research and development.

More widely, the Government must guarantee investment in mental health services and ensure parity of esteem between mental and physical health. I support the establishment of a new NHS target that would guarantee mental health treatment within a month for all who need it. This should form part of a wider, transformative package that would see a radical expansion of the mental health workforce, an open access mental health hub for children and young people in every community and specialist mental health support in every school.