The Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan Discussion Paper was published last week (14th April) by the Department of Health and Social Care.

A more concise summary of the paper is available here.

The discussion paper seeks to consult the public on a range of topics to inform the development of a new mental health and wellbeing plan. In particular, it invites the views on how to:

• improve people’s mental well-being (chapter 1)
• prevent people experiencing mental ill-health (chapter 2)
• help people get support at the earliest stage (chapter 3)
• improve treatment for mental ill-health (chapter 4)
• make sure people with a mental health condition live well (chapter 5)
• best support people in mental health crisis (chapter 6)

The paper is substantial in length and covers the government’s progress to date, the research and evidence behind each of the six chapters, and a section on various groups that face disparities in mental health outcomes.

The RSN encourages the views from the rural perspective to be voiced in relation to this.

You can respond to any or all discussion topics via this online survey (the deadline for responses is 11:45pm on 5 July 2022).