A new agency designed to support the delivery of mental health
policies across England, the
National Mental Health Development Unit, will be
launched on 1 April.
The organisation will replace the National Institute for Mental
Health in England, which is being disbanded.
Care services minister Phil Hope said the unit would help to
disseminate good practice and deliver “world class mental
health services everywhere”.
National focus
The NMHDU, which has a budget of nearly £7.7m for 2009-10, is
designed to provide a strong national focus for the Department of
Health's key objectives. These include tackling inequalities in
services for minority groups, improving access to talking
therapies, and promoting mental health for the whole
population.
However, responsibility for many policies is being devolved to
strategic health authorities and regional government offices in
line with the Department of Health’s commitment to strengthening
regional leadership.
Staff previously employed in Nimhe’s regional offices will now
work for SHAs and deputy regional directors in the nine government
offices.
Partner organisations
NMHDU’s new director, Ian McPherson, the former head of Nimhe,
told Community Care that he wanted to “broker the
relationship between policymakers and the frontline”.
He said the unit would work with key partner organisations
including the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and
the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS mental health providers
across England.
Not only will professionals benefit from guidance on developing
practice, but their experiences will be conveyed to ministers, he
said.
"Putting practice into policy"
“We’re entering new partnerships with those organisations so we
can work together on specific issues where they have expertise and
knowledge and this can be fed back into policy," McPherson
said.
“Policy will now be co-produced. Nimhe was previously about
putting policy into practice but now we’re also putting practice
into policy.”
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