Agenda item

The Board received presentations from Leigh Wallbank, Head of Services for SANE, and Fred Crossman, Young Person’s Mental Health Co-Ordinator at Metro Centre Limited, after which Members of the Committee had the opportunity to ask questions.

Ms Wallbank advised the Committee that SANE was a national mental health charity and was celebrating its 30th anniversary. Members noted SANE had three main aims: to provide help, tackle stigma/discrimination, and research the causes of mental illness. Ms Wallbank detailed why mental illness was such an important issue, providing statistics for the UK and specifically for London. The Committee were informed that approximately £7.5 billion was spent annually to address mental ill health in London, which, Ms Wallbank argued, was proportionately low as these costs were only part of the total £26 billion lost to London each year through such issues as reduced quality of life and productivity.

Mr Crossman built on Ms Wallbank’s presentation, speaking specifically about the project funded by the Committee to enable other organisations to work in an inclusive way, and about the challenges faced by young LGBTQ+ people. The Committee were advised of a survey of 7,000 young people in the UK (the largest survey of its type) which showed that a significantly higher proportion of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/questioning (LGBTQ) (rather than heterosexual) young people sought medical help for mental health, were self-harming, or were having suicidal thoughts. Mr Crossman shared anonymised stories from young people with whom Metro Centre Limited had engaged and advised that, through this current project and others like it, the needs represented by these stories and figures could be addressed.

In response to Members’ queries, Mr Crossman advised that pansexuality was sexual or emotional attraction towards people of any sex or gender identity. Polysexuality was the attraction to multiple genders and/or sexes (but not all).  Members queried stigma and its impact on mental health, and Mr Crossman advised that heteronormative stereotypes were prevalent in society and media. LGBTQ+ individuals were surrounded by these images from an early age, which impacted their mental health through spending their childhood, adolescence and possibly adult life hiding a secret, not being represented, being judged, or not being included.

Members discussed the cost statistics outlined in the presentation, noting that spend on the prevention of mental illness was lower than that on diabetes or obesity. Members also considered the significant impact of preventative measures in reducing spend on treatment and benefits. Ms Wallbank undertook to come back to the Committee with data on unmet need. She advised that, in general, there was a lack of clear data in the sector, but that up to 10% of calls to SANE’s helpline per day were from individuals feeling suicidal at the time of their call.  In response to a Member’s question, Ms Wallbank advised that co-operation was, in general, good in the mental health sector in general, but collaboration wasn’t always appropriate, though on big issues (especially campaigning) organisations worked well together e.g. Time to Change, led by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

A Member noted the increasing numbers of people with mental health problems, and queried whether mental illness was becoming more prevalent or was being recognised more easily. Ms Wallbank agreed that diagnosis was improving, but added that the closure of support services affected people’s ability to maintain their health condition in the same way.

The Chairman thanked Ms Wallbank and Mr Crossman for their presentations.