Future Forum: Mind's recommendations
Thank you to everyone who responded to our online consultations or attended a focus group around the health, social care or public health reforms. These looked at:
- giving patients more information and choice in their healthcare decisions
- changing the way social care is funded and its quality assessed
- embedding mental health and wellbeing in the new public health system which aims to protect the nation’s health and prevent illness
We responded to seven consultations on behalf of those with experience of mental distress.
A summary of our main recommendations for each consultation is below along with the full consultation response.
NHS reforms
Choice and control
- Patients should be able to choose not to choose their health services. ie. to allow their GP to choose the most appropriate services for them
- Personal health budgets should be more widely used so that those with long term conditions have greater freedom of choice
- Patients should control their care records and these should be easily shared between care providers
Download Mind's full response: Mind's response to choice and control (PDF)
An information revolution
- If patients wish to choose their health services, they must be given support by their GP or another expert to be able to navigate the information available
- Much better information is needed on mental health services, and their waiting times, in each local area
- Information offered must always be easily understood, accurate and comparable to other areas. The information that patients actually ask for must be provided
Download full response: Mind's response to the information revolution (PDF)
Social Care
Transparency in outcomes
- We recommend the Care Quality Commission continue carrying out regular inspections. Accountability should not be left to publishing data alone.
- HealthWatch should be responsible for ensuring a certain percentage of local service users are scrutinising the published data on behalf of all.
- There should be an explicit mental health outcome in all relevant domains. This means there should be an indicator on the deterioration of mental health conditions.
- The use of NICE Quality Standards by providers should be incentivised to ensure services are of good quality.
Download full response: Mind's response to transparency in social care outcomes (PDF)
Future funding of social care and support
- Mental health must be explicitly considered (alongside old age, physical conditions and learning disabilities) when making changes to the funding system.
- People should have access to social care earlier, before their condition deteriorates. There should also be support for those who have fallen through the ‘safety net’ like homeless people with mental ill health.
- A tax-based social care system is needed as an insurance-based system is not appropriate for those with a long-term mental health condition
- The chosen funding solutions must be tested amongst current users of social care services who have experience of mental distress
Download full response: Mind's response to the future funding of social care and support (PDF)
Download Mind's impact: analysis on which recommendations were met (PDF)
Public Health
Healthy Lives, Healthy People: our strategy for public health
- The link between poor social conditions and poor health should be recognised in policies across government.
- Councils should focus on environmental factors and the services they provide, not just on encouraging individuals to lead healthier lifestyles.
- Local HealthWatch organisations should have a formal role to scrutinise public health outcomes on behalf of the local population, as they will for health and social care outcomes.
Download full response: Mind's response to Healthy Lives, Healthy People (PDF)
Commissioning and Funding routes
- New, high quality, research should be commissioned on how to affect mental health and wellbeing. This should be widely disseminated alongside the existing research.
- The Department for Health should ensure there is sufficient budget to address the new outcomes after existing public health services have been provided.
- Directors of Public Health should report directly to the Chief Executive of local councils and be part of the senior management team to ensure that they have sufficient influence.
Download full response: Mind's response to commissioning and funding routes (PDF)
Transparency in Outcomes
- None of the mental health indicators should be removed when the number of indicators is reduced. Mental health has been historically under-prioritised in public health and prevention activity.
- The public health outcomes framework should be more closely aligned to the health and social care outcomes frameworks to ensure these services all work together.
- The current employment indicators ignore the stigma some groups face in accessing work and the impact the workplace can have on mental health. Mind proposes better indicators for securing good and sustainable employment for individuals.
Download full response: Mind's response to transparency in outcomes (PDF)