Mental health funding gap widens
The report – Funding and staffing of NHS mental health providers: still waiting for parity – shows that funding for mental health trusts improved in 2016/17, with 84% receiving an increase in funding in cash terms. This represented a significant improvement on the previous two years when significant numbers of mental health trusts had seen a decrease in operating income.
However the think tank said that income for mental health trusts rose by less than 2.5 per cent in 2016/17 compared to over 6 per cent for acute and specialist trusts, continuing a trend of a growing gap between the sectors. Since 2012/13, it said funding for mental health trusts has increased by just 5.6 per cent compared to an increase of 16.8 per cent in funding for acute hospitals.
The report acknowledged that many clinical commissioning groups met the mental health investment standard, which aims to achieve parity between physical and mental health. However the increasing gap was in part due to the use of the central sustainability and transformation fund to reduce deficits. This was primarily aimed at tackling the major deficits in acute trusts associated with the provision of emergency services.
Although STF funding made up less than 1.4% of mental health trust income in aggregate, it still had a significant impact. Without this centralised funding, only 63% of mental health trusts would have seen an increase in income from the previous year and 25% more mental health trusts would have been in deficit.
The King’s Fund said the squeeze on NHS mental health providers funding, together with a lack of available staff, had put huge pressure on the workforce and left mental health trusts struggling to staff services safely. The number of mental health nurses has fallen 13 per cent since 2009, while one in 10 of all posts in specialist mental health services are currently vacant.
‘The NHS is in the very difficult position of trying to deliver parity of esteem at the same time as it is under huge pressure to reduce deficits and improve performance in acute hospitals,’ said Helen Gilburt, fellow in health policy at The King’s Fund.
‘Unless funding grows more quickly, mental health providers may end up implementing improvements to some services at the expense of others. Despite the commitment of national leaders, the funding gap between mental health and acute NHS services is continuing to widen, while growing staff shortages are affecting the quality and safety of care.’
However the think tank said that income for mental health trusts rose by less than 2.5 per cent in 2016/17 compared to over 6 per cent for acute and specialist trusts, continuing a trend of a growing gap between the sectors. Since 2012/13, it said funding for mental health trusts has increased by just 5.6 per cent compared to an increase of 16.8 per cent in funding for acute hospitals.
The report acknowledged that many clinical commissioning groups met the mental health investment standard, which aims to achieve parity between physical and mental health. However the increasing gap was in part due to the use of the central sustainability and transformation fund to reduce deficits. This was primarily aimed at tackling the major deficits in acute trusts associated with the provision of emergency services.
Although STF funding made up less than 1.4% of mental health trust income in aggregate, it still had a significant impact. Without this centralised funding, only 63% of mental health trusts would have seen an increase in income from the previous year and 25% more mental health trusts would have been in deficit.
The King’s Fund said the squeeze on NHS mental health providers funding, together with a lack of available staff, had put huge pressure on the workforce and left mental health trusts struggling to staff services safely. The number of mental health nurses has fallen 13 per cent since 2009, while one in 10 of all posts in specialist mental health services are currently vacant.
‘The NHS is in the very difficult position of trying to deliver parity of esteem at the same time as it is under huge pressure to reduce deficits and improve performance in acute hospitals,’ said Helen Gilburt, fellow in health policy at The King’s Fund.
‘Unless funding grows more quickly, mental health providers may end up implementing improvements to some services at the expense of others. Despite the commitment of national leaders, the funding gap between mental health and acute NHS services is continuing to widen, while growing staff shortages are affecting the quality and safety of care.’
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