NHS England's priorities and planning guidance

The number of national priorities has reduced from 32 to 18, which means local systems have greater flexibility in how they prioritise local population health needs.

This is an important document for those involved in the psychological workforce, and will have implications on service delivery for psychologists and others working in mental health. The guidance states that all mental health providers will be asked to submit, implement and report against a plan to improve productivity during 2025/26.

One of the priorities highlighted in the document is improving patient flow in mental health crisis and acute pathways, and improving access to mental health services for children and young people.

The ambition to provide care for 345,000 more people aged 25 and younger compared to 2019 is certainly welcome, but we need to keep in mind that no additional funding has been allocated to help meet this figure, which will make it a significant challenge for the health service.

There are further positive noises on mental health support for young people, with a commitment to expand mental health support teams (MHSTs) in schools to help meet the government's target of 100 per cent coverage by 2029/30 (MHSTs are currently only estimated to extend to around 44 per cent of pupils). 

MHSTs are an effective prevention and early intervention service that provide significant savings – it has been determined that for every £1 invested on MHSTs, there is a return of £1.90 – and it is vital that they are available to all children in schools. 

The government's commitment to the Mental Health Investment Standard, which was introduced in 2016/17 to support efforts to address parity of esteem in mental health care, is also positive.  

We're also pleased to see a priority around tackling inequalities and focusing on secondary prevention, which is something we believe can help to reduce the strain on services.

Overall, the new guidance looks to be positive for the mental health and psychological workforce, with focus given to a number of areas on which we have campaigned.

However, we also think it's important to highlight one area where there is less of an emphasis than in previous years – staff wellbeing.

This has been an area of real focus for us on the back of our NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs campaign, so it's disappointing to see that it is only mentioned briefly within the document.

This is despite the target of increasing NHS productivity by four per cent, something that is going to be extremely difficult without a workforce that has its wellbeing put at the top of the priority list.

We look forward to the forthcoming ten-year health plan, which will set out a long-term vision for the NHS and the nation's health. The mental health challenge facing the UK must be tackled as a priority, and we look forward to work with members and system partners to deliver progress.