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<p>Spending on mental health is estimated to have increased by £302 million in 2014/15,
with total mental health spending rising from £11.362 billion in 2013/14 to £11.664
billion planned in 2014/15, an increase of 0.6% in real terms. In the planning requirements
for 2015/16, commissioners were required to invest additionally in mental health in
line with their increase in allocation. The total planned additional spend is £376
million, an increase of 4.5%.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Improving Access to
Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme aims to help adults with common mental health
conditions, including anxiety and depression, to recover using a range of psychological
therapies or “talking therapies” recommended by the National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence (NICE) in their clinical guidelines. These include Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Couple Therapy
for depression and counselling for depression. The national roll out of the IAPT programme
began in 2008.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the spending review period 2010-2015
the IAPT programme received over £460 million of government investment.</p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p>The NHS Mandate for 2015/16 and ‘Achieving Better Access to Mental
Health Services by 2020’ included the commitment to introduce the first access and
waiting times for mental health in 2015/16. This was accompanied by a £120 million
investment – an investment of £40 million new money in 2014/15 to lay the groundwork
for introducing the standards, and £80 million in 2015/16 that will be released out
of existing NHS England budgets. One of the standards is that 75% of people referred
to the IAPT programme will be treated within six weeks of referral, and 95% will be
treated within 18 weeks of referral.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Achieving better
access to mental health services by 2020 </em>published in October 2014, set the expectation
that, by 2020, all acute trusts will have in place liaison psychiatry services for
all ages appropriate to the size, acuity and specialty of the hospital, including
in Emergency Departments. Liaison psychiatry services see mental health staff working
alongside acute hospital staff including in Emergency Departments. NHS England is
supporting this aim by targeting £30 million investment in 2015/16 to enable a greater
number of acute hospitals to establish effective models of liaison psychiatry.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is the annual reward
and incentive programme detailing GP practice achievements. A number of mental health
indicators are included in the QOF. It rewards practices for the provision of quality
care and helps to standardise improvements in the delivery of clinical care. The mental
health indicators help to drive improvements in the care and monitoring of patients
with depression, bipolar disorder, psychoses and other mental illnesses.</p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p>NICE published the guideline <em>Depression in adults: The treatment
and management of depression in adults</em> in October 2009. The guidance recommends
that healthcare professionals be alert to possible depression, particularly in people
with a past history of depression or a chronic physical health problem with associated
functional impairment. It also recommends that they consider asking people who may
have depression two pertinent questions about their well-being in the past month.
If a person answers ‘yes’ to either of these questions then the practitioner should
either review the patient’s mental state and associated functional, interpersonal
and social difficulties themselves or refer the patient to a competent mental health
assessor to do so.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>
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