Local mental health services

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in The Informer on Fri 27th May 2005

It was deeply gratifying to be re-elected in Twickenham with a good majority, for the third time. I still have the energy and enthusiasm for the job and, of the nine careers I have had since leaving college in the mid-1960's, I find being an MP the hardest work but the most satisfying.

The first big problem in my in-tray is severe cuts in local mental health services, centred on the Maddison Clinic. Many residents, recovering from mental breakdowns, face a reduction in care.

I have long felt strongly about society's neglect of mental illness. As a 10 year old, I had the shame and fear of seeing my mother taken off to what my friends called 'the loony bin' after suffering post natal depression. Later I had the unusual experience of falling in love in a mental hospital where my late wife, Olympia, and I nursed in a university vacation. Although a forward looking Quaker-run, asylum, it was truly grim.

There is now more understanding and tolerance of mental illness. It is also more common as people succumb to stress. But the originally enlightened 'care in the community' policy is a sick joke. Many people are left isolated; a headache for their families and neighbours; a threat to themselves. We have some excellent local initiatives like the Twining Centre, helping with retraining. But even before the recently announced cuts, the local NHS mental health service was struggling.

I shall try to persuade the health authorities to put bureaucracy before care and the government to ensure that some of the money pouring into the NHS goes to our local mental health services. But I fear some vulnerable people face a difficult time.