More than 270 mental health patients have died over the last six years after failings in NHS care. Mental health services have been desperately underfunded for too long, and the promised increase in spending is insufficient given the historic shortfall and the surge in demand. The current government, and the coalition before it, promised to prioritise mental health; these figures show how little progress has been made. Yet in other, still more disturbing cases, coroners say that they have alerted the same trusts to the same problem before. His initial warning led to a promise that every patient presenting with evidence of a mental health problem or after reported self-harm or suicidal behaviour would be referred for a mental health assessment.

Source: The Guardian March 06, 2018 17:26 UTC