Chloe Smith on Mind mental health crisis line closure

Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, has today responded to the announcement of closure of a mental health crisis line run by Norwich Mind, based in her constituency.

 

The telephone line has had more than 6,000 calls since its pilot began in January but five local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have said they are unable to commit enough funds for it to continue.  The scheme was initially paid for through “system resilience” funds.

 

She has written to the CCGs involved, asking for justification of the decision.  She has also written to the Minister responsible for mental health funding emphasising the need to plan for the continuation of resilience funding, including parity of funding between mental and physical health.

 

Chloe commented:

 

“This line is a serious help to many of my constituents and people across Norfolk.  I want to know if the decision to stop it was taken with good evidence.  I also want to understand why it was only planned from seasonal money in the first place, when surely the calls aren’t only seasonal.  

 

“I have also pressed the Minister to respond on the future of such funding.  It is important that mental health is given equal weighting to physical health, and funded accordingly.”