The Women’s Mental Health Taskforce – Final Report – Outlining the Partners
March 4, 2019 at 12:35 pm
[Late last year, The Women’s Mental Health Taskforce published their final report. One of our volunteers has written a review of the report, considering the parties involved, their commitments, and how this feeds into the aims of the Taskforce.]
This article focuses on the specific roles taken on by key organisations in the UK’s healthcare system to achieve the Taskforce’s goal however, the full report can be accessed here.
It has been brought to light from much research that significantly more women experience mental conditions compared to men. McManus and colleagues (2016) found that specifically young women are almost three times more likely to have a common mental disorder compared to young men. This is because poverty and abuse are related many negative outcomes which includes, but is not limited to, suicide. Compared to men (27%), a staggering number of women who have or are experiencing abuse are also in poverty (51%).
In response to this, the government set up the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce; co-chaired by Jackie Doyle-Price (Minister for Suicide Prevention and Mental Health) and Katharine Sacks-Jones, Chief Executive of Agenda; with the responsibility to improve mental health services for women based on the lived experience of women themselves. That last part is important, as pointed out by Dr Karen Newbigging (Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham); “This reflects the social realities of their lives: women are much more likely than men to be survivors of abuse and domestic violence, to be single parents and to live on a lower income. Traditionally mental health services have overlooked this.”
As mentioned by co-chair, Jackie Doyle-Price, “Mental health is a top priority for this Government and will be a key part of the upcoming Long-Term Plan for the NHS”; all eyes are on National Health Service England (NHSE) to make impactful changes that can help women achieve better mental health services. NHSE’s commitments include implementing a financial incentive for trauma related care, developing a toolkit for system leaders with regards to individuals facing health inequalities, and considering to broaden NHSE’s annual conference to focus on the whole care pathway. Furthermore, NHSE aims to provide access to specialist perinatal mental health services for all new and expectant mothers by April 2019.
Another national body involved is the Public Health England (PHE), which is in charge of gathering public health specialists to improve health and wellbeing. They are committed to expanding work on perinatal mental health; guiding the NHS in promoting the Taskforce’s messages; focusing more on gender- and trauma-informed approaches; raising awareness on domestic abuse; and focusing on additional funds towards women’s mental health.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), independent regulator of all health and social care services in England, has specifically worked towards eliminating mixed-sex accommodation on mental health wards. Through their Long-Term Segregation project and Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme (the latter of which is a collaboration with NHS Improvement), the CQC aims to objectively achieve the goals set by the Taskforce. NHS Improvement is also, among many other things, working towards aligning their sexual safety work with the Taskforce’s objectives.
The role of Higher Education England is crucial as one of their tasks is to disseminate the outcomes of the Taskforce to employers and education institutions, as well as to review the inclusion of trauma-informed care in curricula with Higher Education Institutes.
The Prison and Probation Service is working with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care to establish comprehensive care that improves health outcomes and reduces health inequalities amongst prisoners. Among many other efforts, this partnership is working to enhance ‘women’s pathways’ across all services through actions like appointing women to lead work. Other than that, a new service model is being developed to allow mentally affected offenders to receive mental health treatment as an alternative to custody. Furthermore, the women offender personality disorder pathway aims to improve women’s public protection and mental wellbeing while addressing their offending behaviour. These efforts will hopefully develop psychologically-informed, gender-informed and trauma-informed interventions.
Bristol as a city can also be seen putting efforts into women’s mental health. Bristol City Council is a partner along with thirteen other organisations in a partnership called Healthier Together, that represents the local Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP). Two of Healthier Together’s priorities are maternity and mental health.
It is evident that many organisations are taking steps forward in paving a safer and mental health friendly world for women in the UK. Authorities should take this as motivation to execute their roles as promised as well as introducing more effective efforts instead of becoming complacent by merely acknowledging all their accomplishments so far.
March 4, 2019 at 12:35 pm | Blog | No comment