Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care, commenting on the findings of a new report by the Centre for Mental Health and NHS Benchmarking Network, said:

“It is deeply worrying that community mental health provision has fallen and the number of psychiatric acute inpatient beds reduced, while the number of detentions under the Mental Health Act has risen. This puts even greater pressure on over-stretched acute mental health services.

“The findings of this report show that the Tory pledge to make mental health an equal priority with physical health is nothing more than hollow rhetoric.

“Under the Tories, mental health services have come under increasing pressure due to under-funding and staffing shortages. The Government should match Labour’s pledge to invest more in mental health services and ring-fence mental health spending to ensure funding reaches the front line.“

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