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Tag Archives: norman lamb

What Lib Dems have been doing on World Mental Health Day

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 10th October 2016 - 6:31 pm

Today is World Mental Health Day organised by the World Health Organisation. This year’s theme is around offering support to those in psychological distress – mental health first aid.

Norman Lamb has written for the Guardian arguing that there should be parity between physical and mental health in the workplace with employers being required to provide mental health first aid. He said that he had recently done a training course in mental health first aid.

Employers could find that investing in mental health support saves them money given that mental ill health accounts for 70 million days of sickness absence every year.

How can we possibly justify leaving the law as it is? So far as the NHS is concerned the government has committed to the principle of “parity of esteem” between physical and mental illness. Surely they must apply the same logic to the workplace.

Put simply, this is a call for every workplace to have trained mental health first-aiders just like they have physical first-aiders. A number of employers are taking action. WHSmith has committed to match the number of staff that are physical first-aiders with mental health first-aiders over the next 12 months.

There’s a growing momentum for change, and hundreds more businesses across a range of sectors are implementing mental health training for staff from Unilever and Crossrail to Channel 4. Employers have a duty of care to their workforce, and with the scale of mental issues in this country much more needs to be done. The government must act now to ensure every employee has access to mental health support at work.

In a tweet, Tim Farron called for the NHS to be given the resources it needs to tackle mental ill health:

Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. We must end the stigma and raise awareness. The NHS must also be given necessary funding for vital services.

— Tim Farron (@timfarron) October 10, 2016

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Posted in News | Also tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, featured and mental health | 2 Comments

Lib Dems to consider NHS tax #ldconf

By The Voice | Sat 17th September 2016 - 6:30 am

The Liberal Democrats are to set up an independent expert panel to consider the case for a dedicated NHS and care tax, Norman Lamb will announce in his Conference speech at Brighton later today.

Members of the ‘New Beveridge Group’ will include Dr. Clare Gerada, former President of the Royal College of GPs, Prof. Dinesh Bhugra, former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and current President of the World Psychiatric Association, Peter Carter, the former General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, and the chief executive of the Patients’ Association, Katherine Murphy.

It will report its recommendations to the party in six months’ time, presumably in time for Spring Conference.

Speaking to party members in Brighton, Lib Dem Health spokesperson Norman Lamb will say:

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Posted in News | Also tagged autumn conference 2016, NHS and taxation | 15 Comments

Liberal Democrats must enthusiastically occupy the clear pro EU space – nobody else will

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 29th August 2016 - 12:01 pm

The Liberal Democrats have historically been enthusiastically pro EU. The strength of that enthusiasm, it’s fair to say, has not always been uniform. While a small number of Liberal Democrats campaigned to leave the EU, the vast majority of us wanted to remain. That was very clear to the tens of thousands who have joined us in the aftermath of the vote to leave.

As a party during the referendum, we did more than any other to campaign for a Remain vote. That’s quite a staggering achievement given our size and resources compared to the Labour party.

However, there are signs now that the consensus is starting to develop some fault lines. Our position in the aftermath of the referendum has been very clear. We campaign to stay or go back in to the EU at the next election. We want the voters to have their say on the Brexit deal. It’s only polite, really, given that they weren’t given any indication about what it would look like before they voted.

I don’t want to over-egg this particular pudding, but it looks like our general unity as a party on this is now under threat. Many Liberal Democrats have been very concerned to see that Norman Lamb and Nick Clegg have endorsed Open Britain, the organisation formerly known as Britain Stronger in Europe. Open Britain accepts the referendum result as final even though they also accept that nobody knows what they actually voted for. They will not be calling for a second referendum which seems to be a bizarre and contradictory stance to me.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged eu, featured, liberal democrats, nick clegg and open britain | 93 Comments

Let’s make the UK a better place for those with mental health challenges

By Chris Key | Mon 30th May 2016 - 5:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Imagine being in a situation where you have had months of no sleep, you have lost over 15 kilos in weight when you were already under weight and you cannot do anything but ruminate over problems. You go to your GP, he gives you some shiny pills then tells you to book an appointment in a few weeks, and offers you no therapy or treatment. A few weeks later your mental health deteriorates to a point where you consider self-harm.

That was my story and I am lucky because I am here to tell it. I paid privately for treatment as the only other option was being sectioned under the Mental Health Act, which could have had devastating consequences for my financial and employment prospects. Luckily this episode is well behind me and my life has moved on to a much better place.

Sadly many cannot because they do not have the financial means, or support of family or friends to get through it. Around 4400 people end their own lives in England each year – that’s one death every two hours – and at least 10 times that number attempt suicide.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged mental health and NHS | 2 Comments

Norman Lamb on why improving mental health care is so important to him

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th May 2016 - 11:55 am

This interview with Norman Lamb in the Telegraph.

In it, he talks about why he is so motivated to change mental health care. We knew about how he and his wife Mary have supported their son Archie through battles with OCD and, for the first time, he talks about losing his sister Catherine to suicide last year.

Anyone who has gone through those sorts of experiences, or who has tried to get treatment for mental ill health, will understand the frustrations that he describes and will understand how that drove him on to transform as much as he could while a Minister.

If you have no experience of this particular field, be in no doubt that he is telling the truth.

The Telegraph article has a letter from a 9 year old boy with Depression which was read on the Today programme. It’s horrible to think of a young child going through such pain at all, but when you think they may have to wait years for diagnosis and treatment, it makes you so angry. You need to think of the consequences of that. Think of the impact of a year, or even two years’ wait. Think how much worse a condition can get in that time. There is often no quick fix, either, so there’s more time trying to find something that works. By that time, you’re probably talking about between a quarter and a third of your years in education which have been dominated by ill health. Think of the knock-on effects on life chances, particularly if you are not from an affluent background. It truly is a scandal that we tolerate this as a society.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged mental health | 9 Comments

Some reflections on #IDAHOBIT

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 17th May 2016 - 9:52 pm

Today is the annual International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia as we saw from Team INtogether’s post earlier.

The party has been marking the day in various ways. We’ve been tweeting up a storm. Liz Barker and Jonny Oates recorded this video:

We will never stop fighting for LGBTQQI+ rights in Europe #IDAHOBIT #IDAHOT2016 #INtogether https://t.co/9mlPvGiija

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) May 17, 2016

There’s been a series of lovely graphics:

On #IDAHOBIT2016 , we are #INtogether in Europe because of their work to protect LGBTQI rights across the continent. pic.twitter.com/1lOh1rSD2E

— LGBT+ Lib Dems (@LGBTLD) May 17, 2016

On #IDAHOBIT2016 we are #INtogether b/c Europe has ensured equal pay for transgender women pic.twitter.com/hGD36WNJ9B

— LGBT+ Lib Dems (@LGBTLD) May 17, 2016

Norman Lamb has resubmitted his motion calling for people who want gender neutral passports to be able to have them. Recently, I saw on social media a teacher who has transgender and non binary pupils under their care object to these proposals. Imagine how that makes their pupils feel and how confident they would feel about that teacher to support them. That brings me to what’s been happening north of the border.

Willie Rennie took time out of his short-lived campaign to be First Minister to emphasise the need for all teachers in all schools – that’s the denominational ones, too – to be trained to ensure that all Scotland’s schools are inclusive environments for learning.

He said:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged #IDAHOBIT, #IDAHOT2016, jonny oates, liz barker and willie rennie | 18 Comments

Lamb says Tories failing on mental health waiting times

By NewsHound | Wed 30th March 2016 - 12:15 pm

So, it didn’t take long for the Tories to apply the brakes to all the good work done on mental health by Norman Lamb and, before him, fellow Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow.

The Independent talks exclusively to Norman about what’s happening now he’s not there to drive things forward.

Norman Lamb, who served as the minister responsible for mental health in the Coalition government, said that vital new waiting-times targets for a range of mental health conditions including bipolar disorder and OCD “won’t happen” because the plans were not funded.

He also hit out at an NHS England decision to water down financial incentives for local health authorities to improve mental health services, and criticised “scandalously low” levels of funding for research into mental health conditions.

Mr Lamb, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson and one of the country’s leading campaigners for improved mental health services, said that “all signs” pointed to “a continuing disadvantage for those who suffer from mental illness with no prospect of it ever changing”.

He told the paper:

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Posted in News | Also tagged mental health | Leave a comment

LDVideo: “A new, more rational approach is desperately needed” – Norman Lamb introduces his cannabis bill

By Nick T | Thu 24th March 2016 - 2:56 pm

Norman Lamb yesterday introduced his ten minute rule bill calling for the legalisation of and implementation of a regulated market for cannabis. You can view the bill and follow its progress here. It will move to second reading on 22 April.

And here is Norman’s Commons speech from yesterday:

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Posted in News | Also tagged cannabis | 10 Comments

My response to the debate on motion F7 (Regulation of cannabis)

By Harry Hayfield | Mon 14th March 2016 - 9:09 am

Embed from Getty Images

Note: you can view the debate here, about 2 hours 48 minutes in.

First of all, kudos to our party. Who else would not only discuss an issue that is usually swept under the carpet, but broadcast that debate live on the Internet and then keep it there for everyone to watch / listen to. As a result, I shall summarise my thoughts on each of the speeches.

Norman Lamb MP (Norfolk North) is of course, absolutely correct. Reports of this nature take a long time to compile and the panel who came up with this report should be applauded for their efforts. He is also right to bring up the fact that several members of the current Cabinet, through public statements, have admitted using cannabis and therefore are guilty of hypocrisy. Therefore, in conclusion what Norman said is entirely correct, we need to have a debate, and a debate is precisely what I applaud.

Lee Dargue (Birmingham, Edgbaston) who summed up his amendment by saying “What Norman said” which is succinct and to the point, and he is right. We started the conversation about the mental health of this nation and I have to admit that conversation seems to have come to a bit of a grinding halt post general election. However, whilst recognizing that “fourteen year olds are having sex” and that “fourteen year olds are doing drugs”, I would like to counter that when I was fourteen I was not doing drugs nor having sex and I put that down wholly to being brought up by my grandparents and therefore believe that closer family discussions on these subjects would be an avenue to explore.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged cannabis and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 25 Comments

LibLink: Norman Lamb: Why we should regulate Cannabis

By NewsHound | Tue 8th March 2016 - 7:45 pm

Tim Farron has openly said that he smoked Cannabis as a youngster.

From today’s Mirror:

Lib Dem chief Tim Farron has becomes the first leader of a UK-wide political party to admit smoking cannabis.

The MP’s candid confession comes as he calls for the complete legalisation of the drug in a bid to generate up to £900million for public coffers.

Father-of-four Mr Farron, 46, told the Mirror: “I tried cannabis when I was younger, as did many other politicians.

“But sadly, too many other politicians want to continue forcing our police to waste resources chasing cannabis users when they should be able to take violent crime instead.

“It’s time that we had the courage to look at the evidence and make a decision that will help us to tackle the real criminals instead of the current failed approach.”

On the party website, Norman Lamb has urged members to support the motion calling for the legalisation of Cannabis. He wrote:

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Posted in News | Also tagged cannabis and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 13 Comments

Norman Lamb: Junior doctors can’t all be dismissed as militants

By The Voice | Wed 24th February 2016 - 11:28 am

Embed from Getty Images

Junior doctors are to hold three more one-day strikes. The British Medical Association, which represents the doctors, has also announced that it is seeking a judicial review into the imposition of the new contract because the government failed to carry out an equalities impact study.

Norman Lamb has added his voice to the debate:

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Posted in News | Also tagged junior doctors and NHS | 11 Comments

The Independent View: Norman Lamb and Liberalism – a conversation at the Institute of Economic Affairs

By Sam Collins | Tue 23rd February 2016 - 10:41 am

2015 was a tale of two leadership elections, with the Liberal Democrat debate between Tim Farron and Norman Lamb overshadowed by the seismic shift in the Labour Party. But while Jeremy Corbyn winning the Labour leadership has led to a fundamental debate on the future of the Labour Party, the victory of Tim Farron may prove the more important – particularly if the time comes for the Liberal Democrats to seize back the liberal mantle in British politics.

The Liberal Democrats, like the Liberals before them, have always held a useful counter-balancing position, able to simultaneously attack Labour for their illiberal and statist economic policies – which Jeremy Corbyn has exacerbated – and the Tories for their big-state social policy and genuflection to the security and surveillance services. Should Momentum get too much for Labour and cause splits, and should the Tories finally be split asunder over Europe (or both cast out their ideological non-believers in an orgy of blood-letting that would do la Terreur proud), the Liberal Democrats must be placed to pick up voters from both.
So, what are the Liberal Democrats for? Has the party done enough to take up the torch of liberalism? Is the party still the party of Gladstone, or has it become reconciled to playing a bit part in the great debates?

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged institute of economic affairs | 22 Comments

Crisis mental health care in the NHS must improve

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 17th February 2016 - 1:33 pm

I was struck by a blog in my Facebook timeline this morning. It was actually written a year ago today by Becca Plenderleith, who joined the Lib Dems in the wake of the election last year. She’s already contributed so much to the Party, writing for our Scottish members’ newsletter, making thoughtful and insightful contributions on mental health – and she’s also written for LDV, too. We are very lucky to have her.

In the post she shared this morning, she shared her experience of what passes for mental health crisis care in Scotland – and it just simply is not good enough. The experience she had mirrors other people’s experiences. I have heard of Accident and Emergency doctors, who clearly have no training in mental health, berating a shut-down self-harming teenager and tell them that they are wasting their time. In that example, when the Child and Adolescent Mental Health people got involved, things improved remarkably, but it should never have happened in the first place.

I am horrified that a young person in crisis could be treated in such a callous way. I’m quoting from Becca’s post here with her permission:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged becca plenderleith, crisis care and mental health | 6 Comments

Farron supports bid for cannabis legalisation in UK

By NewsHound | Fri 12th February 2016 - 2:51 pm

Tim Farron has thrown his support behind a motion calling for the legalisation of Cannabis as the Guardian reports:

Farron is to endorse a motion at spring conference which calls on the party to extend its existing support for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use to recreational use.

The motion, to be tabled by the former health minister Norman Lamb, will be debated after the release of the findings of an expert panel appointed by the Lib Dems to examine how a legal market for the use of cannabis would work in the UK. The panel has found that the legal use of cannabis could save the exchequer more than £1bn a year. It could generate between £400m-£900m in tax revenues and could save £200m-£300m in the criminal justice system.

The Lib Dem leader said: “The Liberal Democrats will be releasing a report in due course that lays out the case for a legalised market for sales of cannabis. I personally believe the war on drugs is over. We must move from making this a legal issue to one of health.

“The prime minister used to agree with me on the need for drug reform. It’s time he rediscovered his backbone and made the case again.”

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Posted in News | Also tagged cannabis, spring conference 2016 and tim farron | 26 Comments

Lamb: Junior Doctors’ strike is a wake up call for the Governemnt

By The Voice | Tue 9th February 2016 - 8:27 pm

Norman Lamb has said that the Junior Doctors’ strike scheduled to take place from 8 am tomorrow should be a wake up call for the Government:

If strikes go ahead tomorrow this should be a wake-up call to the Government that it needs to take a more constructive approach to resolving this dispute. They cannot solve the capacity and funding problems in the NHS by forcing this contract on junior doctors.

Growing demand for services, coupled with a funding settlement which doesn’t keep up, are the fundamental problems facing health and care and yet the Government is refusing to take real action to address this.

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Posted in News | Also tagged junior doctors and NHS | 23 Comments

Lib Dem parliamentarians mark #timetotalk day

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th February 2016 - 11:16 pm

Today has been Time to Talk day, Time for Change’s annual initiative to get more people to talk about mental health. It’s something we’ve done to great effect over the last couple of years. You can read the many moving and personal articles our readers have written here.

One Liberal Democrat parliamentarian who was definitely talking about mental health today was Welsh AM Eluned Parrott. She led a debate in the Senedd this afternoon.

Delighted that my individual members' debate on mental health has been accepted by the Assembly #TimetoTalk

— Eluned Parrott (@ElunedParrottAM) February 4, 2016

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged #timetotalk, eluned parrott, mental health and tim farron | 2 Comments

Why Luciana Berger was so wrong to attack Norman Lamb

By Lee Dargue | Fri 29th January 2016 - 9:11 am

When you start a fight, you should choose to fight the side who is damaging you or the cause the most. You should also make sure you have the right backing and tools at hand to win the fight.

Luciana Berger has decided to both ignore the current Government’s reneging on spending for mental Health, whilst also choosing to attack Norman Lamb who has done more to put mental health on the political radar than anyone, whilst she has…well…what, exactly?

The point-scoring attempt this week to blame Norman for the continuing crisis in mental health services finally broke the straw that I’ve been carefully balancing for a while now.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged luciana berger and mental health | 10 Comments

Lamb says Government needs to ‘see sense’ over commission for future of NHS

By The Voice | Fri 22nd January 2016 - 11:30 am

Embed from Getty Images

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Posted in News | Also tagged NHS | 3 Comments

Lamb calls for inquiry into political interference with NHS Medical Director

By Chris White | Fri 8th January 2016 - 2:40 pm

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman Norman Lamb, has called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into reports that the Department of Health toughened up the language in a letter from Professor Sir Bruce Keogh to the BMA.

According to the Independent:

We now know that there was, indeed, collusion between Sir Bruce and the Department of Health during the drafting of the letter, from a series of emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request. In one, addressed to Sir Bruce, an unidentified civil servant wrote: “I have woven the points from my email earlier this morning into your letter.”

Norman said that the revelation raises serious concerns about potential political interference with the independent Medical Director of NHS England:

In cases like this it is crucial to establish who had involvement in something that risks further damaging the Government’s relationship with junior doctors. This cannot be done by the Department and I am calling for Sir Jeremy Heywood to set up a suitable inquiry that will command respect to look into this.

The Government has to urgently resolve the dispute with junior doctors and must also set up an cross party commission to confront the looming crisis facing the NHS and social care services so we can secure their future.

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Posted in News | Also tagged bruce keogh and independent | Leave a comment

Mixed emotions after Syria vote

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 3rd December 2015 - 8:39 am

Yesterday was a very strange day, full of mixed emotions for me. I had instinctively felt from the start of all of this that the case for extending air strikes into Syria had not been made and, although I came very close, I could never get to a place where I felt the risks to people on the ground outweighed the potential benefits. Had I been a Liberal Democrat MP, I would have voted against. I watched a huge chunk of the debate and it was, at times, difficult to see my feelings being expressed by members of other parties.

This wasn’t like the coalition years, though. On more than a handful of occasions, I sat through parliamentary debates with gritted teeth, often feeling apoplectic because I could not understand why on earth we had even entertained the idea of voting for, say, secret courts or some of the more brutal elements of welfare reform. Yesterday, though, I could totally understand and empathise with our leader’s stance, driven as it was by the best of liberal, humanitarian and internationalist motivations. He made an absolute cracker of a speech, delivered with passion and confidence. If you haven’t seen it, watch this extract:

Here is my response in the House of Commons earlier today, on the decision to take action on ISIL in Syria

Posted by Tim Farron on Wednesday, 2 December 2015

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Posted in News | Also tagged featured, mark williams, syria and tim farron | 46 Comments

Two Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against airstrikes?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 2nd December 2015 - 8:05 pm

It appears that the Liberal Democrats may not have a full set of MPs going through the Aye lobby tonight. The BBC’s Norman Smith tweeted a while ago:

I'm told two @LibDems MPs "struggling" to support @timfarron in opposing airstrikes #syriavote

— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) December 2, 2015

Unfortunately, now that we can list our MPs in a single tweet, tracking down the two was not hard.

Even if John Barrett, former Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West hadn’t left this comment:

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Posted in News | Also tagged mark williams and syria | 39 Comments

“It’s time to break the silence surrounding male suicide”

By The Voice | Tue 24th November 2015 - 11:26 am

Norman Lamb and his son Archie opened up on ITV News about Archie’s depression and thoughts of suicide. In a very moving interview with Mark Austin they say what it is like to live with mental illness.

Archie explains:

It just takes over your head. You can’t think of anything else. When you get into depression you cannot think of anything else apart from the gloom of how you are thinking. In my toughest moments you don’t feel like there’s any escape. … I’ve had those thoughts ever since I can remember. They’re not very nice thoughts to have, obviously. It’s really, really horrible and you feel embarrassed to talk about them. At the time I wouldn’t have spoken to my parents about it, or my friends because it is embarrassing.

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Posted in News | Also tagged archie lamb, mental health and suicide | Leave a comment

LibLink: Norman Lamb MP: Government must fund equality for mental health

By NewsHound | Sun 22nd November 2015 - 11:55 am

Writing for PoliticsHome, former Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb argued that the Government must put its money where its mouth is when it comes to ensuring equality for mental health:

The Spending Review is a critical moment that will shape the Government’s spending for the duration of the Parliament, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has an opportunity to make a bold statement on the importance of tackling mental illness. I will not be humoured by the warm words for mental health and my efforts as a minister – it’s about time that this Government put their money where their mouth is.

And it isn’t simply a case of investing to improve mental health services or leaving them the way they are. Mental health trusts are under severe financial strain, and last week’s report by the King’s Fund was the latest in a long line of warnings of the impact of neglecting mental health. There is no doubt that services will slip backwards if we do not take urgent action to provide stable funding for mental health, on a par with physical health.

One in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point during their lifetime, and a far greater number will know somebody who is affected.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged mental health and politics home | 1 Comment

Lamb on junior doctors’ vote in favour of strike action: Government has “woefully mismanaged” negotiation

By The Voice | Thu 19th November 2015 - 7:19 pm

Today, it was announced that junior doctors had voted in favour of strike action by an overwhelming majority. 98% were in favour of action which will begin on 1st December.

Norman Lamb has condemned the Government’s handling of the situation and told Jeremy Hunt to do everything he could to avert the strike:

It’s a serious concern that we have reached a point where junior doctors are prepared to take strike action. The Government has woefully mismanaged this contract negotiation and Jeremy Hunt must act urgently to resolve the dispute. Everything possible must be done to avert the strike which could damage patient care.

It is legitimate to review working practices to ensure they best meet patients’ needs. However these proposals could mean less protection and a cut in pay for those junior doctors expected to work extremely long hours. That is clearly not in the best interests of patients or of NHS staff.

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Posted in News | Also tagged junior doctors and NHS | 12 Comments

LibLink: Claire Tyler on Equality4MentalHealth

By Mary Reid | Fri 6th November 2015 - 9:05 am

We have covered the launch of the Equality for Mental Health Campaign this week and we also linked to Norman Lamb’s account of his son’s struggles with mental health. And now our spokesperson in the Lords on Mental Health, Claire Tyler, has written an article in Politics Home.

She outlines the campaign then writes:

Our job now is to hold this Government’s feet firmly to the fire and make sure the promised money finds its way into the system and, crucially, that money earmarked for mental health services is indeed spent on mental healthcare by Clinical Commissioning Groups. In a recent, and very welcome, spate of debates and questions in the Lords I have pushed for more details about where and when the additional £1.25 billion promised for young people’s mental health during this Parliament is going to be spent.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged claire tyler, equality for mental health and mental health | Leave a comment

LibLink: Norman Lamb MP – My son’s struggle with OCD showed me the unfairness people with mental illness face

By Nick T | Thu 5th November 2015 - 11:23 am

Norman Lamb has been much in the news this week, having launched a cross-party campaign for mental health to be treated equally with physical health across the health service. Norman has written a piece for the Guardian drawing on themes that will be familiar to party members from his excellent conference speech earlier this year.

Here’s an excerpt:

When our oldest son, Archie, was 16, he was clearly very unhappy. He eventually told us just how distressed and troubled he had become. We got a referral to our local children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder followed.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged mental health | 5 Comments

Norman Lamb launches Equality for Mental Health campaign

By Mary Reid | Mon 2nd November 2015 - 3:42 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

Today, Norman Lamb launched a cross-party campaign for improved funding for mental health services. He was joined by Alistair Campbell and Andrew Mitchell MP, as well as a very impressive list of other politicians, professionals, celebrities, mental health charities and community leaders.

It’s unbelievable that it’s 2015 and there isn’t parity between mental and physical health. They don’t comprehend that mental illness is a physical problem – it just happens to be your brain which is another organ.

The Equality for Mental Health campaign has a lengthy petition which reads:

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Posted in News | Also tagged mental health | Leave a comment

What made Norman Lamb threaten to resign?

By NewsHound | Sat 31st October 2015 - 3:00 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

Norman Lamb tells the Eastern Daily Press that he threatened to resign during his 3 year term as health and social care minister.

The issue was waiting time targets for mental health conditions – and he got his way.

You always had the feeling that Norman knew exactly what he was doing on mental health but never quite knew why. Then in March, the Sunday Mirror revealed that Norman’s son Archie suffers with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is absolutely not about having all the tins facing the same way or the bed linen straight. It’s a daily nightmare for those people who are enslaved by its rituals which protect them from dark thoughts.

When his son Archie, now 27, was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) 12 years ago, the North Norfolk MP witnessed the problems patients in Norfolk and Suffolk continue to face.

He explained: “As a family we were faced with the problems in Norfolk of long waiting times and told he had to wait six months to start psychological therapies.

“For us that was too long and I gave up on the NHS at that stage. We paid for him to get access to counselling, but I’m acutely aware many people cannot do that. I don’t find that situation tolerable.

“It got to the point where Archie couldn’t walk down the street, he was worried there would be something sharp on the pavement. He found it hard to leave the house. In that situation you are constantly checking things because of the dark thoughts in your mind, which you simply can’t escape from.”

He then talked about the targets he introduced and other things he’d done as health minister:

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Posted in News | Also tagged eastern daily press and mental health | 6 Comments

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