The remerging of the mental health and social care portfolios under one minister has received a mixed response from leaders in those fields.
While some welcomed the move as an opportunity for greater integration between the two sectors, others felt the challenges facing both areas were too large to be managed by one government representative.
“This is a positive recognition of the interconnectedness of care and mental health”
Vic Rayner
In the latest government reshuffle, Gillian Keegan, MP for Chichester and former minister for apprenticeships and skills, was appointed the new minister of care and mental health, under the Department of Health and Social Care.
While this role had been in place in previous years, more recently mental health had its own minister.
Former nurse Nadine Dorries was the minister for mental health, suicide prevention and patient safety from May 2020 to September 2021.
Meanwhile, Helen Whately had been the minister for care from February 2020 to September 2021.
Under the new care and mental health title, Ms Keegan will lead on: adult social care, health and care integration, dementia, disabilities and long-term conditions, NHS Continuing Healthcare, mental health, suicide prevention and crisis prevention, offender health, vulnerable groups, women’s health strategy and bereavement.
Nursing Times reached out to key stakeholders across mental health and care to gain their reactions to the merge.
Overall, most were hopeful it would help better integrate services and felt it was a “positive recognition of the interconnectedness” between the two, but some warned of potential negative impacts.
Vic Rayner
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, said: “We look forward to building a constructive relationship with her and also welcome the addition of mental health to her brief.
“This is a positive recognition of the interconnectedness of care and mental health.”
Ms Rayner highlighted that Ms Keegan would be “charged with overseeing the publication of a social care white paper” and said the forum looked forward to working with her “to see an ambitious plan for social care”.
Care UK’s director of of care, quality and governance, Rachel Gilbert, also welcomed the new minister, but was concerned that social care may not get all the attention it needed as a result of the move.
“Whilst I can see merits in integrating related responsibilities such as mental health and bereavement into the portfolio, I do worry that the breadth of all these pressing subjects will make it harder for her to maintain the political focus on social care which is so desperately needed at this time,” she told Nursing Times.
Meanwhile, Andy Bell, deputy chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, said: “Reshaping ministerial responsibilities to put mental health and social care back together has some potential benefits, not least to support the integration of health and social care for people living with mental health difficulties.
“While we believe that mental health deserves a fully dedicated minister of its own, we hope that reuniting mental health and social care will increase the level of attention given to protecting and promoting the nation’s mental health and achieving parity for mental health care.”
Megan Pennell, public affairs and campaigns manager at mental health charity Mind, also welcomed the appointment and said it came at a time when “prioritising the mental health of our nation has never been more important”.
“The larger portfolio with social care poses some risk that mental health won’t get the attention it needs”
Mark Rowland
“We look forward to working with her to make sure those of us with mental health problems get the support we need and deserve,” she told Nursing Times.
She added: “We hope the new minister will work across all UK government departments, alongside people with first-hand experience, to make sure mental health is at the heart of every strategy. Only this will bring about positive, long-lasting and meaningful change.”
However, Mark Rowland, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, flagged concerns about the fact that “suicide prevention” had been dropped from the new minister’s title.
“Mental health continues to be the leading cause of disability in the UK, and we are just now reckoning with the mental health impacts of the pandemic,” he told Nursing Times.
“The larger portfolio with social care poses some risk that mental health won’t get the attention it needs but provides real opportunity for much needed integration with social care which has a huge role in protecting and sustaining mental health for people with disabilities as well as in later life.”
Mr Rowland added: “We hope the loss of suicide prevention from the new minister’s job title will not signal any less focus and priority on this area as we emerge from the pandemic, where urgent action is needed to ensure support for those at greatest risk of poor mental health.”
On social media site Twitter last week, Ms Keegan said she was “honoured” to have been asked to join the Department of Health and Social Care.
She added that there were “significant challenges ahead” and that she was “looking forward to working closely” with the team.
