Theresa May pledges mental health revolution will reduce detentions

Theresa May will pledge to scrap the “flawed” Mental Health Act, warning that it has allowed the unnecessary detention of thousands of people and failed to deal with discrimination against ethnic minority patients.

In an attempt to meet her pledge to prioritise mental illness during her premiership, she will commit to ripping up the 30-year-old legislation and replace it with new laws designed to halt a steep rise in the number of people being detained. Increased thresholds for detention would be drawn up in a new mental health treatment bill to be unveiled soon after a Conservative victory. Mental health charities, clinicians and patients would be consulted on the new legislation.

While the announcement is likely to be welcomed by mental health campaigners, there will be warnings that a lack of resources, rather than badly drafted laws, has been the real driver of the increase in detention.

The overhaul is being described by the Conservatives as the biggest change to the law on mental health treatment in more than three decades.

“On my first day in Downing Street last July, I described shortfalls in mental health services as one of the burning injustices in our country,” May said. “It is abundantly clear to me that the discriminatory use of a law passed more than three decades ago is a key part of the reason for this.

“So today I am pledging to rip up the 1983 act and introduce in its place a new law which finally confronts the discrimination and unnecessary detention that takes place too often. We are going to roll out mental health support to every school in the country, ensure that mental health is taken far more seriously in the workplace, and raise standards of care.”

More than 63,000 people were detained under the Mental Health Act in 2014-15, an increase of 43% compared with 2005-06. Black people are also disproportionately affected – with a detention rate of 56.9 per 100 patients who spent time in hospital for mental illness. It compares with a rate of 37.5 per 100 among white patients.

In its last report on the act, the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of healthcare services, said it had “failings that may disempower patients, prevent people from exercising legal rights, and ultimately impede recovery or even amount to unlawful and unethical practice”.

The new legislation would include a code of practice aimed at reducing the disproportionate use of mental health detention for minority groups and countering “unconscious bias”. Safeguards would be introduced to end rules that mean those who are detained can be treated against their will. Those with the capacity to give or refuse consent would be able to do so.

The new bill would form part of a series of measures designed to improve mental health in schools and the workplace. However, ministers would face immediate questions over whether they were providing sufficient funding for their plans.

The Tories would commit to hiring 10,000 staff in the NHS by 2020. An insider said the plan would be funded from existing budgets, because mental health service funding will be up by £1.4bn in real terms by 2020.

The Equalities Act would also be altered to prevent workplace discrimination. Currently patients who have conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are only protected from discrimination if their condition is continuous for 12 months. That would be altered to take account of the fact that the conditions are often intermittent.

Every primary and secondary school in England and Wales would have staff trained in mental health first aid and be given a single point of contact with local mental health services. Children would be taught more about mental health, including keeping safe online and cyber-bullying.

Large companies would be required to train mental health first responders alongside traditional first aiders.

Theresa May pledges mental health revolution will reduce detentions

Conservative minister pledges new strategy to help children of alcoholics

A Conservative minister has promised to produce a new strategy to help the children of alcoholics after she was moved to tears hearing Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth talk about his father’s drinking.

Nicola Blackwood, the public health minister, praised Ashworth for speaking out, along with Labour former minister Liam Byrne, about their experiences of growing up with an alcoholic parent.

“I hope each member who has spoken today will continue to work with me as we fight to tackle this social injustice,” she said, promising to sit down with MPs to draw up a strategy for tackling the problem.

Ashworth spoke in the debate after talking for the first time about his alcoholic father in an interview with the Guardian.

He told MPs: “I am the child of an alcoholic. Throughout my life, I was an only child, in the week I would live with my mum and at the weekends I would live with my dad and my dad would spend the whole weekend drunk.

“From the age of eight or so going to my dad’s meant I was effectively the carer. It was very typical for my dad to pick me up from school and literally fall over because he was so drunk.”

Ashworth recalled having to phone a taxi because his dad could not make the short walk up a street and coming home to find a fridge full of bottles of white wine. He also spoke about the pain of watching his father play in goal in a football match and his workmates shouting: “Jon Ash is in goal, all you have to do is throw a can of Stella and he’ll go for that rather than the ball.”

The shadow health secretary added: “My biggest regret in life is that my dad moved to Thailand when he was about 59. That was that, he just went. Six months later I got married and he promised me he would come to the wedding and the day before he phoned and said he was not coming.

“I was so angry I could hardly speak to him. I wanted him to meet my new wife and meet my new family. A few months later he was dead. I had to go to Thailand to get the body and deal with the funeral.

“The friends he had met over there told me he was drinking a bottle of whisky a day. They told me he couldn’t come to the wedding because he didn’t want to embarrass me.

“We were a working class family from Salford and I had gone to university and become a politician. Posh people would be at the wedding and he felt he would embarrass me by being there. I will always regret that.”

Byrne, the chair of the all-party group of children of alcoholics, said Blackwood’s promise of a government strategy was a breakthrough.

“For over a year we’ve tried to make sure that the voices of children of alcoholics are heard in parliament making the case for change,” he said. “Now the government has listened. The government has agreed to sit down and hammer out a plan. Crucially ministers have agreed with our number one goal: no child of an alcoholic should ever feel alone.”

Conservative minister pledges new strategy to help children of alcoholics

Donor pledges C$380,000 for suicide prevention in First Nations community

A private donor is being lauded by aboriginal leaders for stepping in “where the government of Canada has failed” after anonymously pledging C$ 380,000 to provide mental health workers for a suicide-stricken First Nations community in northern Ontario.

One week ago, Wapekeka First Nation – reeling from the recent suicides of Jolynn Winter and Chantel Fox, both 12 years old – declared a state of emergency. Suicide had tightened its grip on the remote community of 430 people, forcing officials to fly out four young girls to be placed on 24-hour suicide watch and label another 26 students as high risk for suicide.

“Our community is in crisis,” said Joshua Frogg, the spokesman for Wapekeka First Nation. Months earlier the community had approached federal officials, detailing a spike in drug use and suicide attempts. Noting concerns about a potential suicide pact among young women, the community requested C$ 376,706 to hire and train four mental health workers.

The request was denied by Health Canada, who later said the request arrived at an “awkward” time in the federal funding cycle. As the community grieved the loss of two girls, leaders drew a direct link between their deaths and the denied funds. “Our community plan was turned down by government and now two are dead,” said Frogg.

Others saw the denied request as part of a larger pattern, one that has left basic health and mental health services on reserves chronically underfunded, with deadly consequences. Across Canada, indigenous youth are five to six times more likely to die by suicide than their non-indigenous counterparts.

“The healthcare system on reserves is far inferior to what other people get,” said Mike Kirlew, a physician who works in Wapekeka First Nation. “The cost of our complacency will be paid for, in full, in the cost of children’s lives.”

This week the community said an anonymous donor had pledged to fund the full amount of the denied request. “Words cannot express how grateful we are that this donor has committed to helping our young people with their mental health struggles,” Chief Brennan Sainnawap said in a statement.

The donor contacted the community last week, moved by reports of the suicide crisis, said Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents First Nations in northern Ontario. “The continued loss of First Nation youth to suicide is unacceptable to the Canadian public.”

An initial installment of C$ 30,000 was wired to the community on Monday and the community has already begun hiring mental health workers. “We are grateful that a private donor has stepped in where the government of Canada has failed,” added Fiddler.

Health Canada said it was aware of the donation. After news of the suicides broke, the government reversed its decision and said it would be able to provide the funding. Government officials are in talks with Sainnawap but have yet to confirm the exact amount that will be provided, the agency said in a statement.

Donor pledges C$380,000 for suicide prevention in First Nations community

Theresa May pledges to seek long-term solution to social care squeeze

Theresa May has pledged to seek a “long-term solution” to the challenge of funding social care for older people, as she confirmed that local authorities would be allowed to bring forward increases in council tax to ease the pressures on the creaking system.

Challenged by Jeremy Corbyn on what he called the crisis in social care, May said her government would give councils more flexibility to raise more money in the short term – but would also seek a sustainable funding model.

“You cannot look at this question as simply being about money in the short term. If we’re going to give people the reassurance they need in the long term, it’s about finding a way forward that will give a sustainable solution for the future,” she said.

Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, is expected to announce on Thursday that local authorities will be allowed to increase council tax by up to 3% next year and the year after, with the money ringfenced to pay for social care.

The maximum increase had been 2% over each of the next three years, but councils will now be able to make upfront rises of 3% in each of the next two years.

Government sources were keen to stress that no further rises would be permitted – so the total increase in council tax over the three-year period would remain the same, at 6%.

Pressure has been mounting on Downing Street to tackle the demands on social care, since the chancellor, Philip Hammond, triggered a Tory revolt by failing to make more funding available at his autumn statement last month.

In a spirited performance at the final PMQs of 2016, Corbyn said older people were being left to live a “horrible, isolated life, when they should be cared for by all of us, through a properly funded social care system”.

He urged the prime minister to cancel planned cuts to corporation tax, which were confirmed by Hammond, and ringfence the money to fund elderly care.

Corbyn pointed out that increases in council tax raised more in wealthy parts of the country. “Raising council tax has a different outcome in different parts of the country,” he said, adding: “Is she saying that older people – frail, elderly, vulnerable older people – are less valuable in our cities than in other parts of the country?”

May insisted money was not the only answer to the problem, pointing to what she said were poorly performing councils, singling out Ealing council as an example of poor practice for failing to integrate social care with the wider NHS.

“There are also some councils across the country – some Labour councils – who have not taken that opportunity, and where we see a worse performance,” she said, pointing to a “twentyfold” difference in delayed discharges, where hospitals cannot send a patient home because there is no social care in place.

“We recognise that there are indeed pressures on social care, but we also recognise that this is not just about money; it is about delivery,” she said.

New research by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank shows that increasing the council tax precept for social care produces least benefit in the poorer parts of England where need is greatest.

Their analysis has found that this year the local councils in the ten most affluent places in England will raise almost 50% more per head of local population from applying the 2% precept this year than those covering the ten least well-off areas.

Local authorities, which are responsible for social care, have repeatedly said cuts to their funding from central government have put provision at risk.

Sarah Wollaston, the Totnes MP and chair of the health select committee, called for cross-party talks to come up with a long-term solution to the problem.

Hammond has also been considering whether to allow Javid to further boost social care by bringing forward to 2017-18 some of the £1.5bn the government has already pledged to put into the Better Care Fund in phased increases starting next April. That is the £4bn-a-year scheme, co-funded by the NHS and Whitehall and launched by the coalition government, to help keep older people healthier and reduce their risk of ending up in hospital.

However, sources close to the Whitehall discussions about that proposal, which the Local Government Association and NHS bodies have been arguing for, said it was unlikely Javid would increase the £105m injection already planned for the fund next April. One source said: “Theresa May isn’t keen on the Better Care Fund because she sees it as just more money for the NHS through the back door and more money going into the NHS black hole, even though it’s intended to relieve the pressure on overcrowded hospitals.”

Theresa May pledges to seek long-term solution to social care squeeze

UK pledges £1.1bn to global aid fund against Aids, TB and malaria

Britain will contribute £1.1bn to a global aid fund to help fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria – but attach a set of “demanding” performance targets, Priti Patel has announced.

The international development secretary, who last week said too much of the UK’s aid budget is stolen or wasted, announced the three-year pledge alongside the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The investment in the Global Fund of about £366m a year will help the organisation save eight million lives from the diseases.

But it will be subject to a “performance agreement” – the first of its kind – which will see Britain monitor the fund’s work and withhold 10% of the money if targets are not met.

Patel said: “This latest round of UK investment demonstrates that Britain is keeping the promises it has made to the world’s poor while underlining the government’s commitment to tackle the great global challenges of our time, including disease, which is in the national interest. But even some of the best performing international aid institutions can improve and deliver better value for taxpayers and those in need.

“That is why we are using this investment in the Global Fund to secure a demanding performance agreement to make sure UK aid achieves the maximum possible impact. Performance agreements will become the norm for the Department for International Development’s engagement with international institutions, as global Britain uses its leadership to demand more for UK taxpayers and the world’s poorest.”

The money will fund 40m bed nets to tackle malaria, provide enough antiretroviral therapy for 1.3 million people with HIV and support the treatment of 800,000 people with tuberculosis. A proportion of the investment will be used to leverage £100m from the private sector specifically to tackle malaria.

Kate Osamor, the shadow international development secretary, said: “We welcome the government’s pledge of £1.1bn to the Global Fund, which has a remarkable record and powerful model for fighting Aids, TB and malaria across the world. However, it’s perplexing it comes at a time when we’re still waiting for the government to publish the multilateral and bilateral aid reviews, which are long overdue.”

UK pledges £1.1bn to global aid fund against Aids, TB and malaria

May offers no guarantee on immigration and NHS Brexit pledges

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Prime minister declines to guarantee points-based system and extra £100m a week for health service as Japan and US warn of exit risks to Britain

Theresa May has cast doubt on whether Brexit will lead either to a points-based immigration system or an extra £100m a week for the NHS – two central promises made by the successful campaign to leave the European Union.

The prime minister declined to endorse pledges made by the official Vote Leave group as she headed to China for the G20 summit, where Japan and the US have issued strong warnings about the consequences of exiting the EU.

Related: Britain cannot easily dismiss Japanese Brexit warning letter

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May offers no guarantee on immigration and NHS Brexit pledges

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges quicker diagnosis for dementia

Jeremy Hunt stated that it was his ‘mission to make this country the greatest location in the world to get a diagnosis’. Photograph: Richard Gardner/REX

The well being secretary Jeremy Hunt has pledged considerably more rapidly diagnosis times for people with suspected dementia and says he wants Britain to be a leader in both diagnosis and the search for a cure.

Those who see their medical doctor with concerns about their memory and imagined processes will by March be diagnosed inside of six weeks rather than six months, as is at present the case in some spots, explained Hunt. Only half of these with dementia now have a diagnosis at all – a figure he wants to rise to 66%.

At the moment, the wait for a diagnosis is no a lot more than 6 weeks in about 75% of the nation, but there are locations in which it can be numerous months. Some medical professionals truly feel a diagnosis is not extremely valuable, simply because there are few treatment options for the condition and the drugs that exist do not support everybody.

But, mentioned Hunt at an worldwide summit in Paris, the lengthy uncertainty brought on individuals and their families pressure and anxiousness. Knowing the reality inside of six weeks would allow men and women to get entry to medicines which can at times delay the progression of the illness. It would also enable households to prepare for the long term.

“How we reply to dementia is the litmus test of no matter whether we can face up to the challenge of an ageing population, and do so in a way which makes it possible for compassion and dignity.

“Dementia can be a horrific and heartbreaking condition, but it is my mission as well being secretary to make this nation the best spot in the world to get a dementia diagnosis, as properly as a global leader in the fight to uncover a cure,” said Hunt in an interview with the Everyday Telegraph.

1 in three people will develop dementia in later lifestyle. In December, the government convened a G8 dementia summit in London, which concluded with a pledge to discover a cure or remedy by 2025 – which numerous would believe an ambitious purpose. The United kingdom promised to double its investigation funding to £132m by that yr.

In Paris, the well being secretary also mentioned that Marks &amp Spencer, Argos, Homebase and Lloyds Banking Group will train a lot more than 120,000 employees to assist and help consumers with dementia.

David Cameron will on Friday announce a Globe Dementia Council headed by a World Dementia Envoy. Dr Dennis Gillings, an expert in clinical study trials, is to stimulate investigation.

Labour explained the prime minister was right to target on dementia, but named for him to do far more for those afflicted with the illness proper now.

“£2.7bn has been cut from council care budgets underneath this government, hitting the top quality of daily life of hundred of thousands of individuals with dementia and their households. This isn’t very good for them, and is a false economic climate as an escalating amount of elderly people with dementia are ending up in hospitals or care houses when they don’t want to,” said Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s shadow minister for Care and Older People.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges quicker diagnosis for dementia