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Published on: 10/01/2017 05:48 AMReported by: roving-eye
Local Liberal Democrats are blasting General Practioners across Britain for
the "theft" of hundreds of millions of pounds earmarked for children's
mental health care.
The Lib Dems claim that many GPs have taken the money given specifically
for children's mental health and spent it on plugging gaps in other NHS
services created by cuts.
Under the Coalition Government, Chancellor George Osborne pledged an extra
£1.4 billion over five years to transform child and adolescent mental
health services. But research by the 'Young Minds' charity has found that
nearly two-thirds of GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups used some or all
of the extra cash promised to 'backfill' cuts or to spend on other
priorities last year.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb was the care minister in the Coalition
Government who secured the extra cash for children's mental health which
has been squandered. He claims that under the Tories there has been a
'roadblock' to the improvement of mental health services.
Reacting to Prime Minister Theresa May pledges of new initiatives for
schools and employers to provide mental health support, as well as plans
for new alternatives to hospital treatment, Mr Lamb backs the top
psychiatrists who urged th Prime Minister to build the workforce needed to
deliver on her promises. He said: "This is a puny response to a burning
injustice and an attempt to cover up for this Government's failure to
deliver on promised investment for children's mental health."
Local Lib Dem health spokesperson Councillor Tony Dawson says:
"Measures to improve mental health care in schools were already agreed
under the Coalition Government. But in the months ince the Lib Dems left
the government, the Conservatives have failed to ensure the investment has
got through to where it is needed. Children's mental health is still
appallingly-resourced."
"Much of the extra £1.4 billion of funding secured for child mental health
care is being diverted to prop up other services. This amounts to theft of
money intended to improve the lives of vulnerable young people."
"Mental health is nearly always the first area which loses out when budgets
are tight. Unless the government addresses the cash crisis in the NHS and
makes sure money is spent where it's needed, we will not see the
improvements in mental health care that are so badly needed."
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