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Improving Mental Health Care - How to Get Involved!

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Healthwatch England’s new report highlights what they found when they analysed the mental health care experiences that over 34,000 people shared with them – and most of the feedback received has been negative.

Local Healthwatch groups across the country have produced more than 200 reports highlighting what people like and what could be better about mental health services and now, to help health professionals use people’s experiences to make improvements to mental health support, Healthwatch England have produced a report summarising the issues raised.

The top six issues people shared about mental health were:

  • People struggle to find information about the support available
  • Mental and physical health needs are often treated in isolation
  • People don’t always get the same level of service
  • Long waiting times to access mental health services and receive a diagnosis
  • Non-mental health professionals don’t always have the right information and training they need
  • People often don’t feel listened to or involved in decisions that affect them

People have told us how vital it is to be able to access the support they need, when they need it, but this doesn’t always happen. From what people have said, it’s clear that not everyone has the support they need to manage their mental health conditions. For those that do, the quality and consistency of support is not always enough and doesn’t always meet their needs.

There has been a significant effort from the government and the NHS to address many of the issues around mental health. However, to make effective changes to services, Healthwatch believe more needs done to understand different people’s experiences of mental health care, at different stages in their lives.

To read more and access the report, visit: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/news/2018-08-31/what-did-34000-people-say-about-mental-health-care

SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE

You can help make a mental health services better by sharing your experiences and ideas with Healthwatch Torbay.

Find out how you can get involved with our mental health project over the next few years by contacting us at our freephone number on 08000 520 029, emailing info@healthwatchtorbay.org.uk or calling into our office in Paignton Library and Information Centre.

Bob Jope Healthwatch Torbay

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(Author)

Apart from five years studying in Oxford I’ve lived most of my life in London where for many years I was Head of English in a prestigious girls’ school, but since taking early retirement and heading West to be nearer to my two daughters - settling in Torbay with my wife, Anna, in 2011 - I’ve worked in the voluntary sector. I took on the role of Service Provider, for example, promoting the Red Cross Torbay Navigators Project, while now I’m a Trustee and part of the Media Team for our local Healthwatch. I’m a governor at Torquay Academy, too, giving me the chance to stay up to date with what’s happening in the world of education. Other interests, aside from friends and family, include art and art history, reading - from contemporary fiction and poetry to Elizabethan/Jacobean literature - history, politics, cooking, walking, and music, in particular Bob Dylan, the blues, and early Elvis. I love writing, too, with one novel published so far – Elvis in Wonderland – and another, Who’s There?, that still needs plenty of work!