Department Of Health
Detail of outcome
The call for evidence was originally intended to inform 2 individual plans:
- a mental health and wellbeing plan
- a separate suicide prevention strategy
The decision has since been taken to incorporate tackling mental ill health into a major conditions strategy instead of a stand-alone mental health strategy. This will ensure that mental ill health is considered alongside other physical health conditions and that the interactions between them are reflected in any resulting commitments. A call for evidence to inform the major conditions strategy was published on 17 May 2023.
In addition, it remains our intention to publish a new national suicide prevention strategy for England this year.
Thank you to all who responded to the mental health and wellbeing call for evidence. All responses are being considered to inform the development of both strategies.
Detail of feedback received
Over 5,000 people got in touch to share their views and experiences through the online surveys. This included 4,559 individuals and 573 organisations - many of which were collated responses following group discussions with people with lived experience.
Original consultation
Consultation description
The government is committed to improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes, particularly for people who experience worse outcomes than the general population. This is a key part of our commitment to level up, and address unequal outcomes and life chances across the country.
The government has committed to develop a new cross-government, 10-year plan for mental health and wellbeing for England to support this objective.
We want to ensure our new plan responds to the publics priorities and set out what we can all do as a whole society to drive better outcomes. We all have mental health, and all have a part to play in changing things for the better.
Therefore, we are launching a discussion paper and call for evidence to ask the public a range of questions to help develop the new plan.
This discussion paper is asking people:
- how can we all promote positive mental wellbeing? (chapter 1)
- how can we all prevent the onset of mental ill-health? (chapter 2)
- how can we all intervene earlier when people need support with their mental health? (chapter 3)
- how can we improve the quality and effectiveness of treatment for mental health conditions? (chapter 4)
- how can we all support people living with mental health conditions to live well? (chapter 5)
- how can we all improve support for people in crisis? (chapter 6)
We want to hear everyones views on these questions. This includes:
- children and young people, adults, and older adults who have experienced mental ill-health
- people who have cared for someone affected by mental ill-health
- people who work or volunteer in health and social care services who support people with their mental health
- people who work or volunteer in places where they meet people who are affected by mental ill-health (such as schools, job centres and housing associations)
- academics and experts who work on mental health
This discussion paper is published by the Department of Health and Social Care, and has been informed by conversations with stakeholders, people with lived experience and government departments.