- Conference
- 2022 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned about the growing impact of mental health problems on Deaf people. This problem has increased because there are simply not enough accessible mental; health services. Deaf people who live in rural areas have almost no chance of finding accessible mental health services that don’t require a long and difficult journey.
Conference welcomes the work of SignHealth but notes that it is only able to deal with a portion of the need due to lower than required levels of funding. This has led to an unacceptable postcode lottery for Deaf people with mental health problems.
Conference therefore calls on the National Disabled Members Committee to:
1.Work with the Health Service Group to call for improved funding for accessible mental health services
2. Lobby the Labour Party, via the Labour Link, to commit to significantly increased funding for accessible mental health services and those targeted at Deaf people in particular
3.Continue to support SignHealth and to encourage union reps to signpost members in mental health need to them where appropriate