Key areas for action

National ownership
Develop advocacy groups
Address stigma
Increase funding
Build care capacity
Build community services
Professional training
More treatment options
Issues
Action plan
Resources
Questions to ask
Measures of success
Footnotes
Engage carers & patients
Better data
Measures of success
Mental health - summary of key points

More treatment options > issues

Early outreach programmes are associated with greater improvement in negative symptoms amongst people with early symptoms of psychosis.¹

Up to 22% of the economic burden of schizophrenia could be averted by optimal treatment.²

• With de-institutionalisation, a key factor is who takes responsibility and is accountable for the overall outcomes of care.
• Mental health services tend to be disjointed and poorly coordinated.
• Quality of care for mental health is poorly defined and common standards need to be applied across health and social care services.
• Common standards and better coordination of care are also needed between specialist and GP care.
• Access to medicines, cognitive therapy and other mental health services is inadequate. Patients often bear significant costs or go under-treated.
• Many professionals do not prescribe the most effective treatments mainly because they lack data on their clinical and cost-effectiveness.
• These data may also help guide efficient allocation of resources and overcome cost-containment barriers in funding.