Mental health at grass roots

Kent Police officers have taken more than twice the number of days off sick through mental illness than they did seven years ago.

There is no one thing to blame for this huge change and the force itself has acknowledged there’s a problem.

But perhaps the most shocking thing about this story is the fact that it’s not that shocking.

For its part Kent Police is pumping a lot more money into tackling the problem, but just as there’s no single cause, there’s no single cure.

While help at work is one thing, officers have home lives and for years community mental health services in the county have been ravaged by government cuts.

In 2015 we reported how £8m had been shaved off Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust’s budget in four years, and the problems have only got worse since then.

This short term financial fix has had and will continue to have long-term and substantial implications. It was short-sighted and immensely damaging.

Following years of cuts to public services, £10m was pledged in 2014 to all emergency services in the UK to help tackle mental illness.

But while any amount is better than nothing, in reality that’s a drop in the ocean.

The government seems to be robbing Peter to pay Paul on this issue, only Paul’s share is paid several years too late and is substantially smaller.

While a lot of people have been directly affected by psychological issues, police officers in the county missing almost 9,000 days of service last year has an impact on everyone.

There have been concerted efforts in recent years to address mental illness, but far more needs to be done and going back to basics by increasing funding at a grass roots level is a good start.