COMMUNITY leaders have said they fear prime minister Theresa May’s plans to overhaul mental health care are a ‘political spin story’.

The Mrs May said yesterday in a speech that mental illness had been a ‘hidden injustice’ and vowed to use the state as a ‘force for good’ to transform the way mental health problems are addressed.

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She announced that secondary schools will be offered mental health first aid training and there would be a major review of children and adolescent mental health services, led by the Care Quality Commission.

Cllr Azhar Ali, Lancashire County Council’s executive member for health and wellbeing, said: “Anything that invests significantly in mental health is very welcome, however I am concerned this is a political spin story.

“This is all about getting people self-assessed and I really think she should have gone a lot further with funding to make sure that people do not have to travel further afield to get a bed when they have a mental health issue or any other problem.

“All the work she has announced about schools getting further help is all welcome though.

“But just that alone is not going to do the trick. Significantly more money needs to be put in immediately.

“I fear this is just a political method of taking people’s focus away from the shortage of beds at hospital and the lack of funding for social care.”

Burnley MP Julie Cooper, a shadow junior health minister, said the plans sounded like an ‘empty gesture’.

Mrs May set out the plans as part of her vision of a ‘shared society’.

The measures also include a green paper on support for children and young people and a further £15million to provide alternatives to hospital visits, such as crisis cafes and community clinics.

Health minister Jeremy Hunt said three children in every classroom in the UK have a mental health condition but only a quarter of them receive help.

He said early intervention can give patients a much better chance of a full cure.

He said the £1billion already earmarked for mental health services in February was not yet fully filtering through the system, but said Mrs May’s announcement would improve the situation for children.

Mrs Cooper said: “I sincerely hope she has more in mind than warm words.

“We have heard a lot from this Government about parity for mental health but to date there has been no action to achieve this.

“If Theresa May plans to allocate the funding that is genuinely needed to tackle this problem I am grateful but talking about training teachers in mental health first aid does sound a bit like an empty gesture designed to pass the buck.

“Mrs May should also consider the added stress which has been placed upon children as a direct result of her Government’s shambolic and ill-informed changes to the school curriculum and assessment procedures.”

The system, which can see people charged £300 by a GP to provide proof to creditors that they have a mental illness, will be reviewed.