Rise in deaths and suicides at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership NHS trust show mental health services are being under funded

There has been a rise in serious incidents at Kent and Medway NHS Trust including 162 unexpected deaths and suicides, Liberal Democrats can reveal.

The figures from NHS England were unearthed by the Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Norman Lamb, and cover serious incidents reported between 2012-2013 and 2014-2015.

Paul Chaplin, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Medway said: “331 serious incidents is pitiful and shows Kent and Medway NHS Trust is still not taking mental health provision seriously. These incidents show the problems are getting worse.”

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Norman Lamb said:

Norman Lamb said: “The Clinical Commissioning groups should be equally focused on mental health as well as physical health.

“At the moment whenever they feel under pressure to cut budgets, it’s the unprotected mental health services that get sliced.

“Year after year the problem occurs, and year after year the problem gets worse.

“This cannot continue any longer. People are literally dying as a result of the horrific under funding. People are losing their lives as a consequence of the institutional discrimination of mental health.

“The way that funding gets allocated to mental health always means that it loses out.”