The Action Plan contains 38 actions, including a commitment to produce a mental health strategy, which will include a comprehensive funding plan for mental health. There is also a plan on dealing with the response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The Department has on 10 June 2021 published an update on the implementation of the Mental Health Action Plan. The update reports good progress on the implementation of the Action Plan.
As part of the update the Department has also made available five reviews concluded under the Action Plan. This include reviews of:
- Action 8.2: Crisis services
- Action 9.2: Eating disorder services
- Action 9.2: Personality disorder services
- Action 9.3: Psychiatric low secure services
- Action 9.3: Mental health rehabilitation services
These reviews are the versions that were submitted to the Department of Health in the first half of 2021 and have not been edited by the Department. They represents the views of the authors and do not represent official policy of the Department of Health. Any references to funding and investment need are not commitments to investment: they are subject to formal business case procedures and availability of funding.
Some data may have been redacted, where providing the data may lead to the identification of individual people.
Action 8.2 of the Mental Health Action Plan contained a commitment to reconfigure mental health crisis services. In late 2020, the Department commissioned a review of crisis services. The review report, which was received by the Department in April 2021, considers evidence from literature, best practice, service user perspectives and provided 15 recommendations. The new policy paper has been developed together with the authors of the review, and reflects the recommendations contained there in.
Action 12.2 of the Mental Health Action Plan included an action to establish an Innovation Fund to provide earmarked funding for projects generated at a local Trust level that would be beneficial for both patients and staff. The Fund ran in the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22. An evaluation was undertaken for each year of the Fund’s operation and these have been published, below.
Mental Health Action Plan