Mental Health: Spending
Debate between Lord Bishop of Leicester and Baroness Jolly
Baroness Jolly
Child and adolescent services are certainly critical. The Government have put £54 million into child and adolescent IAPT services, and IAPT waiting times are being looked at slightly differently. Those services will be provided in two stages. The first stage will involve not just the first appointment but an agreed programme of care. The second stage is that a second appointment has to be in the book within 28 days of the first appointment. We have looked at trying to make the waiting times slightly more rigid and non-virtual. I emphasise the Government’s concern about child and adolescent services.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, between 2011 and 2012 home support services saw a decrease of some 5.5% in expenditure. Can the noble Baroness tell us what impact this is likely to have on the mental well-being of people living with dementia and their carers? How can this impact be monitored if detailed spending figures are not yet available?
Baroness Jolly
Dementia services are delivered jointly with social care. The Government will be working with NHS England through clinical commissioning groups to make sure that the joint strategic needs assessments that are set out in local plans include provision for people living with dementia. My honourable friend in the other place has set up pioneering groups that are looking at integration of services. All that is very high on the agenda.