Mental health a low priority

Sir, I do not know from which parallel universe Lord Warner commutes to the Department of Health (letter, Aug 11) but I trust he is not currently waiting too long in departures.

Ticking the box by calling mental health a priority does not deliver. Judging its effectiveness on the basis of falling suicide rates ignores record numbers of people, especially schoolchildren, developing mental illness. Whereas mental health accounted for 14 per cent of NHS spending in 1997, that has dropped to 11 per cent — hardly suggesting a “priority”. From Westmoreland to Sussex, acute mental health beds are being cut and day centres are closing.

Supporting People budgets are slashed and early intervention posts are unfilled as mental health budgets are raided.

In Sussex every hospital is in the spotlight for downgrading or even closure as the strategic health authority wrestles with huge deficits. We are told that the prospect of losing our A&E department at Sussex’s largest town, Worthing, and dicing with congested roads to reach Brighton is part of the clinical modernisation process. This is all very well if you can schedule your coronary or traffic smash.