NHS shakeup tackles disparity between mental and physical health services

NHS patients should wait no longer for mental health therapies than they do for treatments for their physical conditions, the government will announce.With more than 6 million people suffering from depression or crippling anxiety but only 75% receiving any medical help, the government is to propose that NHS mental health patients have a "parity of esteem" in doctors' surgeries.

The policy will be formally announced on Tuesday as part of the mandate for the NHS commissioning board, the means by which the health service will be held accountable to parliament under its reforms. The contract with the NHS will specify that mental healthcare should be on a par with physical care –  that it "values mental and physical health equally".

Read more via The Guardian here.