The Rt Hon Paul Burstow, former Minister of State for Care Services, is to chair the 7th University of Birmingham policy commission. The focus of the commission is mental health promotion and illness prevention across society.
The Rt Hon Paul Burstow, former Minister of State for Care Services, is to chair the 7th University of Birmingham policy commission. The focus of the commission is mental health promotion and illness prevention across society.
The commission will include a particular focus on children and young people making recommendations on building resilience and early interventions in schools. It will also focus on reducing stigma and identify approaches to reducing the number of people experiencing mental distress.
Professor Burstow said: ‘I am delighted to be leading this work. Currently only 1 in 3 people with a diagnosable mental health condition get any help. The personal and societal costs are huge.
‘The estimated cost is £105bn in England alone. Poorly treated and undiagnosed mental illness which co-occurs with a physical long term condition is a significant accelerant of health care costs.
‘I hope the work will contribute to policy making and thinking in government and across parties.’
The commission will launch its call for evidence on Thursday 9th February with a Twitter Q&A event from 15.30-16.30 GMT.
It will seek evidence from across the four home nations and internationally, taking into account the views of service users, families, communities, practitioners and policy makers.
Questions for commissioners will include, can mental distress and mental illness be tackled simply by improving access to treatment? Is it possible to scale up treatment to meet growing need? What needs to happen to prevent mental distress and how can we approach this differently?
Prof Burstow said: ‘By working with policy makers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Commission will seek support to implement its recommendations and this will provide a strategic framework for mental health for the 21st Century.’
Recommendations will be made in spring 2018 on how mental health and wellbeing can be improved across the population and promote individual and community resilience.
ENDS
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