People with Mental Health Problems being betrayed by Notts County Council

Broxtowe Borough Council will be told tomorrow night that people in Nottinghamshire with mental health problems are being betrayed by the County Council.

Cllr David Watts

Problems discovered by the Liberal Democrats on the council have included:

• Sufferers not being identified by mental health or medical professionals and going without treatment

• People in need or urgent help being unable to access it

• People with mental health problems simply being labelled as timewasters and not given help or support

• Support services for people with mental health problems being withdrawn by the County Council

• People with mental health problems being lumped together with people with learning difficulties, to the detriment of both groups.

Lib Dem leader on Broxtowe Borough Council David Watts will tell the council that the Liberal Democrats have compiled a dossier of cases where people with mental health problems have been let down by the system. Councillor Watts will call for urgent improvement and will say:

"Putting people with mental health problems together with those suffering from learning disabilities is like telling heart attack patients that they will be treated together with those suffering from Ebola. It is totally wrong and displays a complete lack of understanding by the council. What we have shown is that far too many people in Notts are unable to access the services that they need and are being let down. They are being betrayed by the system that should be supporting them. I was speaking to one resident with mental health problems yesterday who told me that with Middle Street Support Centre in Beeston the County Council had given her a life. Now they are taking her life away again."

Some Facts

The County Council estimates that over 1,300 children and 2,000 people over the age of 65 in the borough have mental health problems.

1. The Government estimates that 1 in four working age people will have mental health difficulties at some point in their lives.

2. Where a person suffers from mental health problems this can have a significant, and at times life changing, impact upon them, their families and often their wider circle of contacts.

3. Until now mental health services have been the Cinderella part of the National Health Service. When waiting time targets were initially set for patients by the Labour government these were only for physical illnesses and mental health services were ignored.

4. Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston is a vital part of the support network for people with mental health problems. Plans to close it under the Conservative administration on the County Council were scrapped after public protests, but have been revived by the Labour administration now in control.

5. Research by the charity MIND published on 26^th October 2014 shows that councils in the East Midlands spend less on mental health services than in any other region of the country.