It has been acknowledged for some time that poverty can be a trigger for poor mental health, and a report from the World Health Organisation (2009) highlight that mental health difficulties are most pronounced in countries such as Britain, which, although rich, have high levels of income and social inequality.
Challenges
Inequalities in health between ethnic groups in the United Kingdom have been extensively documented, with studies showing worse health among minority ethnic people compared with white population (Race Equality Foundation 2007).
A major challenge of mental health care in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) is providing the right level of care in the right place and at the right time. Currently Leicester city spends £42m on secondary mental health care, £2m on Improving Access to Psychological services and £650k on Voluntary and Community Sector (Joint Mental Health Commissioning Strategy for Leicester City 2015 to 2019). There is significant pressure on the acute inpatient beds resulting in a number of patients being admitted to out of county hospitals far away from their home and community. A significant proportion of the patients receiving acute care have been admitted before in the same calendar year indicating the potential for improving the community care. There are major challenges in making sure that people receive mental health care early and they are supported with their recovery journey. The above picture indicates that the service models and solutions we have been trying may not be able to give us the solutions to the problems we have. Scope of research and research supported service innovations are key to improving the sustainability of mental health care in LLR.
