Agenda item

5.1

It was moved by Councillor Steve Ayris, and seconded by Councillor Mohammed Mahroof, that this Council:-

(a)       recognises that Sheffield’s mental health, homelessness and addiction services and charities come under particular pressure during the winter months as A&E services become overloaded;

(b)       is concerned that 95 per cent of NHS mental health trust leaders nationally consider homelessness to be a factor in increasing demand for mental health services in their area; that suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales; and that major depression is the second leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the burden of suicide and ischaemic heart disease;

(c)        notes that demand for community mental health services has grown by up to 40 per cent in some areas of Sheffield;

(d)       further notes the chronic staffing and recruitment and wider training crisis in mental health services;

(e)       notes also that Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust consider the development of new roles to meet current and future workforce needs to be a key risk, highlighting cost pressures, mutual recognition of qualifications and general uncertainty created by Brexit;

(f)        notes with grave concern data provided by MIND that shows that, in the past year, the NHS in England has cancelled 175,000 appointments in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – an overall increase of 25% compared to the previous year, representing nearly one in five of all missed appointments;

(g)       notes that nearly two thirds of NHS mental health trust leaders are very concerned about the numbers and skills of staff by 2021;

(h)       believes the Government’s attitude towards leaving the EU under a bad deal or no deal is having a negative impact on mental health services;

(i)         is dismayed that no Mental Well-being Impact Assessment (MWIA) has been published by the Government of any Brexit deal or ‘no deal’;

(j)         notes with grave concern the predicted shortages of food and prescribed drugs and medicine supplies in the realistic assessment by the Cabinet Office in its Operation Yellowhammer report and the disproportionate impact this would have on crisis mental health sufferers;

(k)        notes that NHS mental health trust directors are seeing greater social isolation, deprivation and homelessness increasingly driving demand for mental health services and changing the nature of the support that trusts need to provide, and believes this trend has only been compounded by continued cuts to local authority budgets and subsequent decommissioning of important local early intervention specialist mental health services; and

(l)         calls on the future Government to introduce measures to boost mental health services and to address the disparity between mental and physical health care.

5.2

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor George Lindars-Hammond, and seconded by Councillor Jim Steinke, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (m) to (s) as follows:-

(m)      notes the commitment shown to improving mental health provision in the city by the Council, including providing funding worth £3 million to focus on mental health rehabilitation, through the Promoting Independence Project;

(n)       notes that this Project has been set up to empower people who are currently living in full-time residential or nursing care as a result of mental health conditions, to make the move towards supported housing and independent living;

(o)       further notes the importance of the Sheffield Mental Health Transformation Programme, a collaborative programme of work that has been jointly developed and is being jointly delivered by the Council, NHS, Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group and Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust;

(p)       believes that such partnership working is essential to secure better outcomes for people with mental health problems, by working far more collaboratively and by delivering better value for money through economies of scale, reducing overlaps, eliminating wastage and through innovation and creativity;

(q)       contends that the programme will improve people’s lives and, crucially, has been designed to tackle what are predominantly long-standing issues in Sheffield, with the overarching aim being to ensure services are far more localised, individualised and focused  on prevention and early intervention;

(r)        believes that mental health services have been decimated since 2010 by successive governments, but that this does not mean we should not show ambition, and are confident the Transformation Programme will improve clinical outcomes, clinical quality and the experience of those who use services; and

(s)        believes that everyone should have the opportunity to live as independently as possible and our role as a council is to put the right support and arrangements in place so that people can live how they want to live for the best quality of life, and that our aim is for there to be better health and wellbeing across the city and to tackle inequalities so that the most vulnerable can overcome obstacles and achieve their potential.

5.3

It was then moved by Councillor Alison Teal, and seconded by Councillor Douglas Johnson, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (m) to (t) as follows:-

(m)      notes that mental health services have been drastically underfunded and homelessness has increased as a result of austerity;

(n)       calls on the Government to publish a mental wellbeing impact assessment on any Brexit deal or “no deal”;

(o)       calls on the Government to provide funding to enable major improvements to mental health care, putting it on an equal footing with physical health care;

(p)       declares its belief that people have the right to housing, the right to sanitary facilities and the right to documents that will enable them to vote;

(q)       believes that every person who finds themselves homeless should be considered as priority need;

(r)        will work with other local authorities to lobby for reform to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, to make squatting empty properties safe and equitable for property owners and otherwise homeless people;

(s)        notes that mental health services are now so stretched that community organisations are increasingly having to support people in crisis who ideally should have been getting support from services; and

(t)         therefore resolves that officers bring forward proposals to provide more support for voluntary and community organisations in terms of financial support and training on suicide prevention and safeguarding.

5.4

It was then moved by Councillor Penny Baker, and seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (m) and (n) as follows:-

(m)      recognises that mental health is an issue that cuts across demographics, with one in two people affected in their lifetime and often they suffer in silence without representation to push for better services themselves; and

(n)       calls on the Council to speak up for the people who are unable to speak for themselves and demand better mental health services and funding from an incoming Government.

5.5

After contributions from two other Members, and following a right of reply from Councillor Steve Ayris, the amendment moved by Councillor George Lindars-Hammond was put to the vote and was carried.

5.5.1

(NOTE: The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Gail Smith) and Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Bob Pullin, Richard Shaw, Bob McCann, Tim Huggan, Mohammed Mahroof, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Vic Bowden, Roger Davison, Barbara Masters, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Cliff Woodcraft, Ian Auckland, Sue Auckland, Steve Ayris, Kevin Oxley, Penny Baker, Vickie Priestley, Alan Hooper and Mike Levery voted for paragraphs (m) to (q) and (s) of the amendment, and voted against paragraph (r) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.)

5.6

The amendment moved by Councillor Alison Teal was then put to the vote and was carried, except for paragraphs (r) and (t) of the amendment, which were negatived.  Paragraphs (m) to (q) and (s) of the amendment were carried on the basis that they were to be additional paragraphs to the Substantive Motion.

5.6.1

(NOTE: The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Gail Smith) and Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Bob Pullin, Richard Shaw, Bob McCann, Tim Huggan, Mohammed Mahroof, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Vic Bowden, Roger Davison, Barbara Masters, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Cliff Woodcraft, Ian Auckland, Sue Auckland, Steve Ayris, Kevin Oxley, Penny Baker, Vickie Priestley, Alan Hooper and Mike Levery voted for paragraphs (n), (o), (q), (s) and (t) of the amendment, voted against paragraphs (m) and (r) of the amendment, and abstained from voting on paragraph (p) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.)

5.7

The amendment moved by Councillor Penny Baker was then put to the vote and was carried on the basis that the two paragraphs were to be additional paragraphs to the Substantive Motion.

5.8

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-