- Conference
- 2024 National Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 8 December 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference, it is disappointing that despite the increasing awareness of mental health due to the pandemic lockdowns, there continues to be very little tangible change in the provision of mental health services . Far too often we are relying on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as the one and only form of talking therapy, with no regard for more complex mental health conditions that may need more support.
Far too often our members are forced to hunt down subsidised therapy offered by charities in order to actually get the support they need, and even then, it isn’t enough. For example, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is known to be successful in helping people with PTSD process and move on from their trauma – yet this is not available widely across the NHS. So, if you are low income, working part-time due to disability, a single parent, or any myriad of disadvantaged positions in life, you will not get support whilst simultaneously being more likely to need that support.
We also need to be working with employers to make sure managers have awareness and sensitivity to mental health needs, including any reasonable adjustments. Despite being workers for the health service, all too often we see members struggling with a sickness process because of a manager that has no empathy for their situation. This is something we as a union need to challenge, making sure anyone in a management role has the training to actually manage compassionately, with a Just and Learning culture in mind.
Conference calls on the National Health Service Group Executive to:
1. Write to NHS England and champion the need for a wider range of mental health support, including therapies such as EMDR – and to reduce the long waiting times for these services.
2. Provide guidance to regional groups and branches on how they can improve mental health support in their workplaces.
3. Work with There For You to seek ways we can support disadvantaged members who are in a position of needing mental health support but are unable to access it.
4. Encourage NHS Employers to make Mental Health First Aid a core component of management training