TO BE PUBLISHED March 2025
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This conference will assess priorities for the future of mental health policy and services in England.
It will be an opportunity to discuss next steps following the Government’s pledge to modernise the Mental Health Act, as it consults on the development of the 10 Year Health Plan, and with the Mental Health Bill currently progressing through parliament. We also expect discussion to draw on Lord Darzi’s Independent investigation of the NHS in England, which highlighted disparity in funding and resources between care for physical and mental health.
Sessions in the agenda will examine resourcing priorities for mental health provision ahead of the forthcoming Spending Review. It follows £26m for new mental health crisis centres announced in the Budget, but with stakeholders expressing concern over the future of the Mental Health Investment Standard.
We expect discussion on ways forward for building and sustaining a preventative model of mental health care, and latest thinking on managing long-term mental health conditions. Delegates will examine practicalities for strengthening community-based services, including bringing care closer to home as part of a wider strategy for mental health, as well as embedding mental health services and staff within NHS practices.
Areas for discussion include increasing mental health support for young people, the rollout of Young Futures Hubs and plans to provide access to mental health specialists in schools, as well as the expansion and funding of NHS talking therapy programmes.
There will also be a focus on tackling inequalities and providing targeted support for vulnerable groups, including options for updating legislation on sectioning to address its disproportionate impact on black men, further supporting the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework, and addressing violence and coercive behaviour against women and girls, especially in domestic relationships.
We also expect the agenda to bring out latest thinking on patient choice and autonomy with regards to care and treatment, including for patients with autism and other disabilities. Discussion is expected on ways of increasing patient access to advocacy bodies, and providing the option to choose their primary carer.
Further sessions will look at options for strengthening the primary care workforce, including implementation of government ambitions to recruit more staff with specific training in suicide prevention, and updating the core curriculum for medical students to include mental health training. It will also be an opportunity to examine options for harmonising data approaches across services, including increasing data-sharing between NHS England and ICB leaders, and digital upskilling in the workforce.
Overall, areas for discussion include:
- prevention: practicalities of shifting towards a preventative model of care - developing early interventions for mental health
- tackling poor mental health in young people: approaches for prevention - access to specialists and wellbeing support services within schools - transition between child care and adult care
- next steps for youth services: supporting youth groups and open-access mental health drop-ins - practicalities of integrating the Government’s rollout of Young Futures hubs with existing services
- targeted support for vulnerable groups:
- supporting carers, ethnic minority groups, refugees and asylum seekers, women, and LGBTQ+ people - delivering a complete ban on conversion therapy
- recognising the mental health impact of coercive relationships and domestic abuse
- tackling inequalities:
- updating detention under the Mental Health Act to address relatively high numbers of black men being sectioned
- implementing a strategy of mental health support specifically for men in low socio-economic areas to address higher suicide rates
- cross-sector collaboration: informing a national mental health strategy - harmonising data collection approaches and IT systems
- NHS mental health workforce: priorities for providing wellbeing support - developing pathways for cross-sector careers for NHS workers
- patient care: options for improving patient choice and autonomy - improving patient access to advocates and advocacy bodies - providing care at home or closer to home
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates.
