February 2012
House of Lords briefing on parity for mental
health
The College, working jointly with stakeholders
in the mental health sector, produced a
briefing focussing on parity of esteem for mental and physical
health in advance of a debate on amendments looking at mental
health.
Following the news that the House of Lords
voted by 244 to 240 in favour of an amendment to place an explicit
duty on the Secretary of State to give equal emphasis to mental and
physical health, Professor Sue Bailey, President of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists, said: "We were delighted this amendment
was passed, as we have long campaigned for mental health to be on
an equal footing with physical health. However, the College still
has major concerns about many aspects of the Bill and believes it
will remain fundamentally flawed unless it undergoes further
significant revision."
College clarifies its position on the Health Social Care
Bill
Following the result of the most recent survey
of members the College produced a new
College statement clarifying its position on the Bill.
January 2012
NHS Future Forum publishes second report
The
second report of the NHS Future Forum was published, outlining
recommendations on education and training, public health,
integration and information.
December 2011
RCPsych responds to Health Select Committee inquiry on
education, training and workforce planning
The College outlined key concerns to members of the Health
Select Committee as part of the inquiry into education and
training.
The submission
highlights issues of particular concern to the College,
including the urgent need to address the future of Deaneries, and
the danger that where Acute Trusts form Local Education and
Training Boards there is the possibility that psychiatry could be
marginalised.
More about the Health Select Committee inquiry is available on
the Parliament UK website.
October 2011
House of Lords Second Reading Briefing on Health and
Social Care Bill
The College, working jointly with stakeholders in the mental
health sector, produced a
briefing in advance of House of Lords Second Reading of the
Health and Social Care Bill
Key concerns included: Integration, parity for
mental health, competition, patient and clinician involvement
June 2011
Department of Health publishes results of NHS Future
Forum Listening Exercise
The Future Forum’s recommendations to government
were published following the NHS listening exercise and the
government’s response to the Future Forum’s
recommendations was published shortly after.
May 2011
College response to NHS Future Forum Listening
Exercise
Key concerns in the College response to the
Listening Exercise included: commissioning, integration,
medical education and competition
April 2011
NHS Future Forum 'Listening Exercise'
- Survey of College membership
In April 2011, the Government began its 'Listening Exercise' on
the NHS reforms in England.
The 'Listening Exercise' was being organised by the Future
Forum, a "group of clinicians, patient representatives
voluntary sector representatives and others from the health field,
including frontline staff."
In advance of it's submission the College carried out a survey
of all 9,352 English College members to ask for their
views on the proposed reforms.
Initial findings from the survey are available here.
February 2011
Health and Social Care Bill: Mental
Health Strategy
In Febuary 2011, the Coalition Government published
No health without mental health: a cross-Government
mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages.
Through its membership of the
Future Visions Coalition, the College has been fully engaged
with, and has succeeded in influencing, the strategy throughout the
various stages of its development.
Health and Social Care
Bill: Second Reading Briefing
In response to the Coalition Government's Health and
Social Care Bill, the College prepared a briefing
in advance of the Commons Second Reading.
In it, the College outlined concerns about a number of areas
including:
- how the scale and the pace of change may impact on
the care and in particular the continuity of care that can be given
to patients with mental health problems;
- that in some areas the new GP consortia will not yet have
developed the skills or expertise to support mental health
commissioning and that there needs to be engagement of specialist
clinicians from the outset;
- concerns about further roll out of ‘Any Willing Provider’ given
current evidence in some mental health services.
Read the full text of the Second Reading Briefing
here.
Read the College's submission to the House of Commons Public
Bill Committee on the Health and Social Care Bill
here
December 2010
Health and Social Care
Consultations: Responding to Transparency in Outcomes
& Legislative framework and next steps
In December 2010, the Coalition Government published
Transparency in Outcomes - a framework for the NHS: Government
response to the consultation (which is the formal
Government response to the proposals and responses received as part
of the consultation Transparency in Outcomes - a framework for
the NHS (see below)).
It also published
Liberating the NHS: Legislative framework and next steps
(also known as 'Command Paper') which is the Government's
response to the consultations Local democratic legitimacy in
health, Regulating healthcare providers and Commissioning
for patients (see below).
The Policy Unit prepared two documents which summarises
these two new documents and highlights what the College said in its
original responses.
The Unit has also produced a one-page diagram
of the Architecture of the
Government’s Health and Social Care reforms (White
Papers/Strategies/Bills/Consultations etc.).
July 2010
Health and Social
Care White Paper Responding to Equity and
Excellence: Liberating the NHS
In July 2010, the Coalition Government published a White Paper
on the future of the NHS entitled
Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS.
Four consultation papers were published alongside the White
Paper:
Read the College's full responses to the four documents
here.