Mind responds to Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s speech at Policy Exchange
Today, Steve Barclay MP, current Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, delivered a speech at think tank Policy Exchange, outlining the NHS’s priorities heading into winter.
Responding to the speech, Vicki Nash, Associate Director of Policy, Campaigns and Public Affairs at Mind, said:
“We recently teamed up with several of the country’s leading mental health charities to call upon both the current and soon-to-be-announced new Prime Minister to put mental health at the top of the political agenda. Given this, it was good to see that the health secretary today recognised the need to prioritise mental health going into winter, especially as the cost-of-living crisis worsens ahead of another energy price cap announcement in October.
“The new Prime Minister must, as a matter of urgency, recommit to delivering a 10-year cross Government mental health plan which sets out how different departments will work together and provide the funding mental health services so desperately need. As more and more people struggle to make ends meet, and with mental health services teetering on the brink of complete collapse, the UK government must take swift and meaningful action to make sure those of us with mental health problems are not left out in the cold.”