The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will require NHS England to set out commissioning responsibilities for mental healthcare.
Alistair Burt
NHS England has a five-year strategy – the Mental Health “Five Year Forward View” to improve mental health outcomes across the National Health Service, for people of all ages. The Forward View explains how national bodies will work together between now and 2021 to help people have good mental health and make sure they can access evidence-based treatment rapidly when they need it.
In relation to commissioning, NHS England has direct commissioning responsibility for a number of specialised mental health services – as set out in regulations. These services include: adult secure in-patient services; in-patient services for children and adolescents; in-patient perinatal services; gender identity services; specialist in-patient services for people who have a mental health illness and are deaf; in- patient services for patients who have eating disorders and some specialist personality disorder in-patient services.
The Mental Health Taskforce report – published in February, recommended that NHS England should ensure that by April 2017 population-based budgets are in place, which give clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) or other local partners the opportunity to collaboratively commission the majority of specialised services across the life course.
CCGs are responsible for commissioning all other mental health services for both adults and children; working with partners such as local authorities, where appropriate.