Campaign Demands Equality Between Physical And Mental Health Treatment

Mental health campaign has been launched in UK urging the government to use the current spending review to increase funding to mental health services. Equality for Mental Health calls for mental health to be considered equally important to physical health.

The campaign was backed by Former Communications Director under Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell, Conservative MP, Andrew Mitchell, and Former Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

The campaign demands better mental health provisions, arguing that "sustained investment in mental health services will lead to significant returns for the Exchequer, both by reducing the burden on the NHS through the improved wellbeing of our citizens, and by helping people to stay in, or get back into work."

Celebrity backers include Joanna Lumley, Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman and Richard Curtis. Nine former Health Secretaries are also signatories, including Ken Clarke and Andy Burnham.

The campaign highlighted lack of access to treatment, with three out of four mentally ill children receiving no treatment at all.

Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Lamb, who launched the campaign, said "We can start to break the taboos, break the stigma and help people to get access to support and treatment when they need it. There's a wealth of evidence that if you intervene quickly with mental health you can stop the deterioration of condition but we don't do that, we neglect problems dreadfully."

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Source-Medindia