14 November 2003
Providers of adult mental health services in England will have only £56m to develop their services in the current financial year, according to the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.
In a review of mental health spending, the centre said last year's £3.5bn adult mental health budget had increased by 6.3%. But, after pay and price inflation were taken into account, only 1.6% (around £56m) remained as growth money to develop services.
It said the NHS as a whole received a 9.9% rise in cash terms.
The report, Money for mental health, said the lack of growth money was compounded by the fact that many providers faced longstanding debts, serious staff shortages and a rising drug bill.
Staff attempting to co-ordinate improvements in services at local level said financial pressures were delaying implementation of the National Service Framework for Mental Health.
Last year's Wanless report said an annual spending increase of 11.5% was needed to implement this strategy.
Matt Muijen, the centre's chief executive, said mental health care was not benefiting from the recent unprecedented levels of health spending.
'Five years ago, the NSF set out a bold vision for mental health care. But it was predicated on extra resources being available to invest in new services and to avoid the mistakes of the past,' he added.
'We face a simple choice: either mental health gets parity with the rest of the NHS or the government's plans for better services will have to be scaled back significantly.
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