Tories and mental health - if they get in will it be a disaster?

[JaceyBee]

I work in mental health and like many people am concerned about what will happen to our service if the conservatives get in next month.

Historically I believe mental health has not been a priority for the tories, maybe this has changed now, I know they intend to monitor the mental health of ex-servicemen and women more carefully which has got to be a good thing I suppose.

However it was Labour who brought in the Increased Access to Psychological Therapies in order to shorten waiting lists for counselling/therapy in primary care and relieve burden on GP's for common mental health problems.

I just can't see myself ever voting tory, would they be disastrous for people who work in mental health, and more importantly our patients? What do others think???

Not quite sure what you are attempting to say lincstash? Drug treatment has improved 10 fold, and funding has increased dramatically, under the Labour government. I work with some of the most chaotic, unstable opiate users, and am aware of the flaws in the NHS/mental health services, but please do not kid yourself for one minute that the Tories will do anything to help anyone other than the richest people in society. You must have a short memory if you do not remember the last Conservative government - "there is no such thing as society", "greed is good" etc etc.

People with severe mental health problems will sadly, sometimes hurt others. However, lets be clear, they are much more likely to hurt themselves and THAT is why mental health services are so important.

People WITHOUT mental health problems hurt/kill people every day, so please do not use the small amount of "mental health murders" which get a disproportionate amount of publicity, fool you into beleive the system fails everyone.