Tag Archives: mental health

Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes… Parity for mental health: learning lessons from across the pond

By Paul Burstow | Thu 24th October 2013 - 12:21 pm

The last few weeks have seen the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of mental health. We had the very welcome announcement from Norman Lamb that the government is leading by example, with commitments from 13 departments to sign up to ‘Time to Change’. That was the good news. The bad came in the form of the thoughtless and stigmatising portrayal of mental illness in Halloween customs sold by ASDA and Tesco, companies that should have known better. The ugly could be found on the front page of The Sun with its irresponsible …

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Caron Lindsay

LDVideo: Norman Lamb says he’s on a mission for better mental health care

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 16th October 2013 - 4:00 pm

Norman LambNorman Lamb has given an interview to the BBC about mental health provision after a joint BBC/Community Care magazine investigation found that 1700 mental health beds had been lost in recent years. To his credit, there was no spin from him, no excuses. He simply acknowledged that the current situation wasn’t good enough, explained what he’s already done in terms of better community care and changing the NHS Mandate to give mental health parity with physical health and finally said what he was hoping to achieve in the future.

He said:

I know that there are problems and I’m absolutely determined that we address them. We owe it to people who have mental health problems that we provide them with the best possible care that’s available to them. There are some great examples of care around the country but there are too many failures. It’s because there is institutional bias against mental health which has to end…

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Norman Lamb MP

World Mental Health Day #timetochange

By Norman Lamb MP | Thu 10th October 2013 - 2:18 pm

time to changeThose of you who have read previous contributions from me to Lib Dem Voice will know that at the very top of my list of priorities as a health minister is to transform the care and support for people with mental health problems.  Every year, the Mental Health Foundation – one of Britain’s leading mental health research and policy charities – holds World Mental Health day, to raise awareness of different mental health conditions.  Mental health has always struggled to attract the same attention as physical health …

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The Voice

A reply to Matt on welfare by Lib Dem ministers Norman Lamb and Steve Webb: “We believe in standing up for the vulnerable”

By The Voice | Sun 6th October 2013 - 8:30 am

This week, Lib Dem Voice published a deeply personal account by one of our readers, Matt: I need the Liberal Democrats to stand up for me when Conservative ministers denigrate me. It was read by many in the party, including two Lib Dem ministers in the Coalition — Norman Lamb MP (Department of Health) and Steve Webb MP (Department for Work and Pensions) — who have co-authored the following response.

lamb and webb

When we read the article posted on Lib Dem Voice on Wednesday by Matt, setting out very personally the distressing and painful experiences he has faced over the past few years in trying to access the welfare and health support he needs, we felt it was important that we respond properly to what he had said.

As Liberal Democrats, we instinctively understand that divisive rhetoric is both unhelpful and inaccurate, and for both of these reasons we should all remain constantly vigilant in challenging those who use this type of language to denigrate any member of our society. We believe in standing up for the vulnerable and providing support to those who are facing personal difficulties in their lives.

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Opinion: I need the Liberal Democrats to stand up for me when Conservative ministers denigrate me

By Matt | Wed 2nd October 2013 - 1:28 pm

I want to share with you how I feel when Conservative government ministers talk about welfare claimants in disparaging terms. I hope that I can bring a bit of understanding about the problems people like me face.

Before I begin, I should give a trigger warning for rape, self harm and sexual abuse. The details are upsetting but I feel you need to know the whole story.

I was raped and abused as a child every single week for 12 years. On numerous occasions I would wake to find myself being raped and suffocated by my abuser, who was later imprisoned for …

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Caron Lindsay

Farron asks Gove to put mental health on the school curriculum

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2013 - 7:43 pm

Last Friday a new charity, providing online counselling to teenagers with mental health issues, launched in London. Mindfull, run by the team behind BeatBullying, built the service after feedback young people themselves. We’re talking about a third of our young people either self-harming or contemplating suicide because they are feeling so bad. The case stories in the report give some idea of how that feels:

Jessica was 14 when she started to feel very down. She didn’t tell anyone about the way she was feeling until she was 15, and even though she started to have suicidal thoughts it took

…

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes…Tackling Mental Health stigma and discrimination: the NHS 65 years on

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 5th July 2013 - 2:29 pm

65 years ago today, the foundations of our modern National Health Service were laid based on the recommendations of a Liberal, William Beveridge. The founding principle that our NHS should always be free at the point of use endures today. The NHS now treats around a million people every 36 hours, with 300 million GP appointments each year. It is a national institution of which we are rightly proud.

However, the National Health Service is far from perfect. Significant changes are needed to cope with the challenges faced by the fact that people are living longer, and are living with an …

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Caron Lindsay

The most important thing going on in Parliament this week…

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 16th May 2013 - 9:20 am

Forget the EU referendum faffery and PMQs. When people wake up in the morning, their first thoughts are unlikely to be anything to do with the internal wranglings within the Conservative Party or any  sort of parliamentary panto. They will be to do with their health or thir job or any other problems they or their family face.

However, at 11:30 or thereabouts today, MPs will talk about something that most people will find real and relevant. There’s a backbench debate on mental health. I doubt it will be as powerful and intense as the debate we had at Scottish Conference …

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Caron Lindsay

My highlights of Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th March 2013 - 11:56 am

I’m a bit bleary eyed today. One conference is exhausting, two on successive weekends is positively foolhardy. Following that up with a trip to London for Federal Executive is craziness.

I spent the weekend in Dundee where Scottish Liberal Democrats held their main Conference. Over three days, there were no fewer than twelve policy debates, some of them incredibly powerful or controversial. Here are my highlights.

The Secret Courts debate

Yes, I’m biased as I proposed the motion rejecting the Government’s proposals, but the debate itself was very high quality. Liberal Youth co-chair Kavya Kaushik won the Russell Johnston award for the best …

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Where do we now stand regarding mental health provision in the NHS?

By Tim Purkiss | Tue 8th January 2013 - 11:42 am

nhs sign lrgMany people are clearly still very angry at, what they perceive to be, Liberal Democrats waving through Conservative plans to fragment and privatise the NHS – despite it not being in the Coalition Agreement – and believe that, within that, mental health treatment in the NHS will inevitably suffer.

I do not think that anybody who reads these pages will believe that the party can regain every vote which we have lost because of the NHS Bill.

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Mental health provision in the NHS – follow-up

By Tim Purkiss | Mon 17th December 2012 - 1:23 pm

Phrenology head - mental health - Some rights reserved by evansvilleI intended the previous mental health article on this website to be my last but, having been amazed by the people sharing personal and moving experiences in the comments section, I felt compelled to add something more.

First, I wish to acknowledge that, while I have often felt that my world is crashing down around me during the last few months, my own problems pale into insignificance compared to those which have been shared on this website. It takes a remarkable amount of bravery to share these in a public forum – bravery which I doubt I would be capable of.

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb: another step forward on parity of esteem for mental health

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 14th December 2012 - 4:21 pm

From April 2014, for the first time, people who need mental health services will be able to choose where they receive their care.

In 2008, the Labour government gave patients the legal right to choose who provides their care when referred by a GP. Scandalously, however, that right was specifically denied to mental health service users – a clear, institutionalised bias against mental health services and service users who had to take what they are given, whether they like it or not.

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Mental health provision in the NHS – share your experiences

By Tim Purkiss | Wed 12th December 2012 - 10:01 am

After having written previous articles about delegate Sarah Yong’s motion on under provision in mental health, my own experiences with mental health, and the recent statements by Ed Miliband regarding Labour’s policy on mental health,  I want to add a final footnote to the series.

It is clear from comments on this website that Liberal

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Can Labour be trusted on mental health?

By Tim Purkiss | Wed 21st November 2012 - 8:55 am

In my last two articles for Liberal Democrat Voice I wrote about the current under provision in mental health treatment in the country and why it is important that properly addressing mental health is brought into the political mainstream.

Thankfully in recent weeks this has started to happen. Of course there was Ed Miliband’s speech to the Royal College of Psychiatrists in which he spoke of the need for improved provision in mental health treatments across the country. Many people will of course welcome this state of affairs and it is encouraging if Miliband is intending to put improved …

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Stephen Tall

Nick’s third ‘Letter from the Leader’: “More freedom for parents and more rights for people with mental health problems”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 2:05 pm

The third of Nick Clegg’s Letters from the Leader series has hit party members’ email inboxes today — here’s what he has to say…

In a week when we saw a set of disappointing elections – with hard working Liberal Democrats not getting the results they deserved and turnout slumping to a new low – it’s worth remembering what we’re achieving in Government.

This week I had the privilege – and I really do mean privilege – to announce a change in government policy that I’ve been working

…

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes: A landmark for the NHS – and a line in the sand for mental health

By Norman Lamb MP | Tue 13th November 2012 - 5:55 pm

The first mandate between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board was published today, setting out the priorities for the health service over the next two years. It reaffirms our commitment to a comprehensive and universal NHS, available to all based on need rather than on your ability to pay. Its overriding aim is to make the NHS work better for patients.

The Mandate was drawn up following widespread consultation over the summer. Key goals contained within it include:

  • Improving standards of care, especially for the elderly
  • Better diagnosis,

…

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The Voice

The Independent View: Hope yet for parity esteem for mental health issues

By The Voice | Mon 12th November 2012 - 1:23 pm

Mihir Magudia is Head of Strategy & Public Affairs for St Andrew’s Healthcare, the UK’s largest mental health charity that provides more services to the NHS than any other charity. On his blog, Spotlight, he praises Norman Lamb for signalling “parity of esteem” between mental health and physical health treatment at a recent conference:

…Norman Lamb went further than his predecessors. After rightly pointing out that people with mental health problems suffer from an institutional disadvantage in the health system (mentioning how they have been ignored by the reforms on waiting times, choice and payment by results) he went on to call

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Debate around mental health must be in the political mainstream

By Tim Purkiss | Wed 31st October 2012 - 2:25 pm

On Monday Ed Miliband made a speech to the Royal College of Psychiatrists concerning the taboo surrounding mental illness. He spoke about the devastating human and economic consequences of failing to address the under- provision in mental health treatment and promised that, amongst other things, a Labour Government would re-write the constitution of the NHS in order to address this under provision.

In my previous post on this website I wrote about the motion concerning mental health which was passed at the Lib Dems autumn conference in Brighton.

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Nick Clegg writes for Netmums on Post Natal Depression

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 17th October 2012 - 7:55 pm

Last Wednesday was World Mental Health Day. As we would expect from a leader who is so interested in the subject, Nick Clegg issued a message on his Deputy Prime Minister’s website.

He also wrote a blog for Netmums on Post Natal Depression. He said:

Postnatal depression is an illness. If left untreated, it can have very harmful long-term effects, for both the mother and child. For example, a mother’s long-term depression can lead to her child developing behaviour problems and issues with bonding, sleeping and eating. It can also lead to her child developing learning difficulties at school and depression

…

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes: Time to change

By Norman Lamb MP | Wed 17th October 2012 - 12:54 pm

Over the next few weeks’ telly-watching you may see adverts encouraging people to talk about mental health. For those of you that can’t wait, you can watch them online here. These adverts are part of the Time to Change campaign, England’s biggest ever attempt to end the stigma and discrimination that faces people with mental health problems. This is a brilliant campaign. I remember speaking at its launch back in 2008. In the time since then, it has made a real difference.

It can be extraordinarily tough to talk about mental health problems, and this only adds to the hardship caused by the illness itself. I welcome the fact that more and

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Tim Purkiss

Opinion: Reflections from Brighton 2012

By Tim Purkiss | Tue 2nd October 2012 - 9:45 am

While it might be a stretch to say that the 2012 Lib Dem conference in Brighton was an unmitigated success, it is hard to come away from the conference without feeling a little better about life and about the party.

Certainly the only consistent low point of the week was being blown sideways by the gales sweeping in from the English Channel. (On reflection I think it may have been a mistake for me to tell friends that the weather is always good in Brighton!)

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Mark Pack

Election law snippets

By Mark Pack | Sat 15th September 2012 - 4:25 pm

MPs who suffer mental health problems will benefit from the government’s decision to back a Bill going through Parliament:

The Deputy Prime Minister announced that the Government is backing the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill brought forward by Gavin Barwell MP, which receives Second Reading in the House of Commons today.

The Bill repeals section 141 of the Mental Health Act, which sets out that an MP automatically loses their seat if detained under the Act for more than six months. It also amends similar discriminatory provisions in legislation concerning

…

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes: One suicide is one too many

By Norman Lamb MP | Wed 12th September 2012 - 12:47 pm

On average, someone commits suicide in England every two hours. That’s over 4,200 suicides a year. That figure may shock you. But what is just as shocking is that a lesbian, gay or bisexual person is twice as likely as a heterosexual person to self harm

I was drawing this awful statistic to people’s attention because Monday was World Suicide Prevention Day. It was also the occasion for me to the launch the Government’s new Suicide Prevention Strategy – the first for ten years. It is based on evidence of what works. Credit is due to Paul Burstow who …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg in Scotland: another opportunity for Scots to get to know him wasted

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th August 2012 - 2:25 pm

I am proper livid today. Nick Clegg came to Scotland yesterday. Not that you’d know from the amount of media coverage the visit attracted. There’s not much in today’s papers, although STV covered his visit to a factory in Jedburgh.

What would Scots have learned about our Deputy Prime Minister over the last year? People remember that he had paint thrown at him when he came up last August but his visits since then have largely gone unnoticed. That, I believe, is because we are being far too timid in what we do with him: every time he comes …

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Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes: Mental health, no excuses

By Paul Burstow | Fri 27th July 2012 - 11:50 am

Over the past few days Channel Four has been highlighting mental health with its #4goesmad series of programmes. With the aim of debunking the myths and stigma surrounding mental health, they are well worth a watch.

I watched both Ruby Wax and Jon Richardson programmes.  Both told powerful and compelling stories  of people coming to terms with their mental health and talking openly about it often for the first time. One such moment was when a successful chef told his restaurant staff that he had, quite recently, contemplated suicide. Getting this confession out into the open was a symbol of that …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg and Paul Burstow’s 3 steps for employers on mental health

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th July 2012 - 12:56 pm

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s long running work on mental health issues took another step forward this week with the publication of a mental health implementation framework aimed at helping people suffering from mental health problems in the workplace. Employers will be asked to take 3 steps to identify and support those 1 in 6 workers affected. These are:

1)    Make this year the Time to Change: Sign your company up to the Time to Change campaign to end mental health discrimination. By signing up, you make a public commitment from the top of the organisation to the bottom, …

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Mary Reid

LDVideo: Jenny Willott joins Platform 51’s Glad Rags campaign

By Mary Reid | Fri 30th March 2012 - 1:51 pm

Jenny Willott MP talks about her wedding jewellery as part of Platform 51’s campaign to raise awareness of the widespread use of depressants by women.

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s mental health initiative provides treatment for half a million people

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th January 2012 - 10:55 am

One of Nick Clegg’s first major speeches as leader of the Liberal Democrats, as Lib Dem Voice reported way back in February 2008, was on the subject of mental health, of ensuring much faster access to therapy for those affected.

In Government, he is able to put his ideas into practice, last year allocating £400 million to talking therapies. I wrote then about why I was so pleased to see that much needed investment.

Today’s Telegraph reports that half a million people have entered treatment under the Coalition’s mental health strategy.

Last night, Nick Clegg held a reception in London …

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Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes: Mental health – changing attitudes, tackling stigma

By Paul Burstow | Wed 19th October 2011 - 3:52 pm

Paul Burstow visits Duke McKenzie's

At our party conference in Birmingham, I was asked the question; “what issues can we campaign on at the next general election?” Given that this was during the health Bill Q&A session, I imagine most people in the audience expected me to focus on NHS reform. Instead I talked about mental health, and in particular our party’s long standing campaign for parity of esteem between mental and physical health. There are many obstacles to overcome but we are making progress …

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The Voice

A Radical Activist Grandma writes… Lib Dems must make their voice heard on mental health and disability issues

By The Voice | Thu 29th September 2011 - 12:15 pm

Suzanne Fletcher had an experience many Lib Dems have experienced at the party’s conference: she’d prepared a speech but there was not time to call her during the debate. However, Lib Dem Voice is delighted, with Suzanne’s permission, to share her thoughts with our readers…

The speech I didn’t make at Lib Dem conference on the Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) and Work Capability Assessments
First of all congratulations to the Disability Consortium for their well-run campaign to get people to come and vote in this debate, although I was certainly going to be here anyway, along with my colleagues from Stockton, …

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