{"id":11854,"date":"2017-03-22T12:55:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T12:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11854"},"modified":"2017-03-22T15:23:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T15:23:12","slug":"too-little-too-late-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11854","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Too little too late\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Extra funding for suicide prevention is \u00e2\u20ac\u015btoo little too late\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and will not prevent people dying unnecessarily, an influential parliamentary committee has warned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a damning report<\/a> the health select committee said the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suicide prevention strategy cannot be delivered under the current budget and called for the shortfall in mental health<\/a> professionals to be closed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe note that there are currently important steps which could be taken to reduce suicide but which cannot be acted upon due to the lack of significant additional resource,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the committee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s MPs stated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe call on the government to set out how it will make sure that funding is available for the actions outlined in the strategy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A department of health spokesperson said in 2016 a three year \u00c2\u014125m fund was allocated to boost suicide prevention services, a move which the committee described as \u00e2\u20ac\u015btoo little too late\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The government has also promised to increase funding to mental health services by \u00c2\u01411bn by 2020.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite said the report demonstrated that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pledges were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhollow words\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, adding that swinging NHS<\/a> budget cuts were compounding the pressure on mental health services, a situation which would not be rectified by the additional suicide prevention funding.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bearing brunt of cuts <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One Unite mental health nurse also reported an increase in the number of mental health patients who had become suicidal after bearing the brunt of benefit and social care cuts. Her comments echoed those made by leading medical organisations<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The health select committee also said that there was not enough oversight on whether plans laid out to reduce suicide by local authorities were effective.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Responding to the report, professional lead for mental health at the Royal College of Nursing, Ian Hulatt, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe report exposes the gap between government rhetoric and action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe funding is not getting through and little is known about the quality of local plans or their ability to reach the people who need support.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2015, 4,820 people were recorded as having died by suicide in England, however the committee said the figure is probably \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmuch higher\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lead professional officer for mental health, Dave Munday, said that the 15 percent fall in the number of mental health nurses<\/a> between 2010 and 2016 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from 45,384 to 38,774 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was impeding suicide prevention services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis report states quite clearly that suicide is preventable. It also highlights very strongly the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hollow words when it comes to funding services. Allocating extra money to one area, such as suicide prevention, does not mitigate the fact that overall services are being starved and creating pressure across the system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf the government really wants to improve suicide prevention it needs to urgently reverse the cuts to mental health nurses and ensure that the often promised funding improvements in mental health services materialise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Unite mental health nurse, who did not wished to named, said it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just cuts to the NHS that were impacting on overstretched mental health professionals or the people they treat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing an increase in patients whose mental health is being impacted by inadequate housing, benefit<\/a> cuts and the deterioration in social care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor some their situations have contributed towards them leaning towards suicide, when that may not have been the case if those pressures weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as acute.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extra funding for suicide prevention is \u00e2\u20ac\u015btoo little too late\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and will not prevent people dying unnecessarily, an influential parliamentary committee has warned.   In a damning report the health select committee said the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suicide prevention strategy cannot be delivered under the current budget and called for the shortfall in mental health professionals to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[404,29],"wps_subtitle":"Suicide: Prevention strategy slammed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11855,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11854\/revisions\/11855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}