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Edinburgh Cuts to Mental Health Services Unacceptable

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The City of Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) is planning to cut £2.2 million from community mental health services, despite the newly-approved strategic plan for health services in the Capital for the next three years stressing the need for prevention. The Thrive Collective, which brings together 11 different organisations, is campaigning to halt the cuts, warning that they would close down all community mental health services in Edinburgh and leave 4,500 people without vital support.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EIJB is planning to cut £2.2 million from community mental health services, despite the strategic plan emphasizing prevention and early intervention.
  • The Stafford Centre in Broughton Street supports 640 people in the community, 80% of whom attribute its help in keeping them out of hospital.
  • Thrive calculated that the Stafford Centre saved the NHS £4.4 million in psychiatric hospital admissions last year in return for its funding of £188,000.
  • The EIJB's strategic plan declares that prevention and early intervention are "the right thing to do for our citizens" and "also the financially responsible thing to do".
  • Nick Ward, CEO of Change Mental Health, says the proposed cuts would negate the community-first approach proposed in the EIJB's strategy.
  • The affected organisations have been campaigning to halt the cuts ahead of the EIJB's meeting at the end of the month.
  • The cuts would save well under 1% of the EIJB's budget, with Mr. Ward stating that they would result in too much harm to the Capital.

Statistics:

  • £2.2 million: the planned cut to community mental health services
  • 640: the number of people supported by the Stafford Centre
  • 80%: the percentage of people who attribute the Stafford Centre's help in keeping them out of hospital
  • £188,000: the funding supplied to the Stafford Centre in return for its services
  • £4.4 million: the amount saved by the NHS in psychiatric hospital admissions due to the Stafford Centre's services
  • 4,500: the number of people who would be left without vital support if the cuts go ahead
  • 1%: the percentage of the EIJB's budget that the cuts would save

Sources:

  • Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB)
  • Thrive Collective
  • The Stafford Centre
  • Change Mental Health
  • Edinburgh News
  • BBC Health and Social Care

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