Government promises £1bn a year more to “transform” mental health in England

Around £1bn (€1.3bn; $1.5bn) more a year will be spent on improving mental health services in England in the wake of what is being called a landmark report that described a service that still left hundreds of thousands of people with “ruined” lives.

The scale of long term underfunding, neglect, marginalisation, and inadequate service provision was made clear in the NHS commissioned but independent Mental Health Taskforce’s report, published on 15 February.1

The report gathered views from 20 000 members of the public, people with experience of mental health problems, and healthcare professionals.

The government and NHS England have agreed with its recommendations and said that more than £1bn a year of extra funding will be invested in this area of NHS care by 2020-21, to reach one million more people.

In a wide ranging set of recommendations, the report’s authors proposed a …