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December 2024
Social work must be prioritised in 10 Year Health Plan
In our response to the NHS Change Consultation, we are calling for the government to prioritise “forgotten” mental health social workers.
Policymakers have a blind spot which continuously overlooks the impact mental health social workers have in improving patient outcomes.
But it is mental health social workers who hold the key to fulfilling the government’s ambitions to moving to more preventative and community-based care.
Mental health is as much a social issue as it is a health issue
In our submission to the government’s NHS Change Consultation today, we argue that mental health is as much a social issue as it is a health one, and that for the 10 Year Health Plan to be a success, it must be developed and delivered with social care and voluntary sector services at its heart.
Penny East, our Director of External Relations explains:
“The NHS will not be fixed if plans to ‘treat it’ are carried out in isolation from the rest of our public services. We are concerned that social work and social interventions within the health system continue to be overlooked.
“We will never get the best outcomes for people until we prioritise and protect practitioners that are trained to respond to the social issues in someone’s life.
“The support of a mental health social worker can be transformational in a person’s recovery. They bring a much-needed social lens to clinical settings. They help people navigate the complexities of the system itself and provide that consistent care and understanding that is so crucial to someone feeling understood and seen.
“If we are going to shift to preventative and community-based care, we need a system that finally understands mental ill-health as a social issue”.
Prioritising the workforce
Specialist social work provision must be protected in clinical settings.
We aren’t the only ones to see the importance of this: the Health Services Safety Investigations Body recently reported that patient safety would be improved with the integration of mental health social workers within hospitals, ensuing patients’ social care needs are considered throughout someone’s care and discharge.
The whole mental health workforce must be prioritised in the new 10 year plans, and the ongoing challenges around recruitment and retention resolved through technological investment, appropriate pay and improved working conditions.