Gus O’Donnell joins call for increased investment in mental health services

Gus O’Donnell joins call for increased investment in mental health services

In an open letter, more than 200 key figures from across the worlds of business, politics, sport and culture have called for increasing investment in mental health services. The signatories include Gus O’Donnell, chairman of Frontier (Europe).

The letter highlights the considerable economic cost of mental ill health, including the burden on the NHS and police, unemployment and homelessness. It also argues that people who experience mental ill health do not get a fair deal from the NHS relative to those with physical conditions, and sets out concerns including long waiting times, budget cuts, lack of access to services, and poor health and employment outcomes. The signatories ask that:

“As ministers make final decisions on the Spending Review, we urge them to treat mental health equally with physical health. We ask for the same right to timely access to evidence based treatment as those with physical health problems.”

Frontier (Europe) advises a wide range of organisations on mental health policy and wider health and care issues, and recently investigated how firms can measure the impact of mental ill-health on productivity.

For more information, please contact Goran Serdarevic on g.serdarevic@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.