NHS reforms 'must not damage mental health care'

Mental Health charity Mind has said that the NHS reforms must not jeopardise the quality and continuity of the treatment and care of those with mental health issues in the UK.

This comes after the cross-party Health Select Committee found that governmental plans for the NHS "significant institutional upheaval" without really changing its aims.

The report said that risks to the health service could increase as part of the plans and that ministers had not sufficiently demonstrated that plans for a new NHS would represent the most efficient way of delivering patient care.

Mind's chief executive Paul Farmer said that there is a risk that mental health knowledge and skills could be lost as the health service becomes more GP-orientated.

"We know from past experience that mental health services often bear the brunt of health budget cuts and we can not allow history to repeat itself," he added.

This comes after Parkinson's UK called for the government to reverse its decision to remove the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for those living in residential care.

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