Mental Health Equality Petition....

[rose]

For those who haven't seen this....

http://www.equality4mentalhealth.uk/index.php

[Suzi]

signed

[S deleted]

Yep me too

[Zeppelin]

Would be nice but I'm not sure how realistic it is, just where do they propose the increased investment comes from exactly? Cuts elsewhere? Or higher taxes perhaps? To address all those areas of concern you are really going to be needing a very significant investment increase.

[rose]

I've always said I was happy to pay more income tax to get a better standard of service. (When I was working of course!!!)
All the income tax thresholds have been lowered though, haven't they? And no top level put in....

Anyway, its not our job to find the money, its our job to ask for what's right.

[Zeppelin]

Sure you can ask for anything you like but if what your asking for isn't realistic, you're not gonna get it and I don't think this petition is being realistic. If they focused on a particular point they may have more success than a blanket demand for more investment. The whole country would be bust in no time if every petition for investment was accepted. Don't get me wrong I think it would be great if all the issues the petition raises could be dealt with but its simply not going to happen.

[S deleted]

Nice to see a positive post from you Zepp.

Oh wait......

[Paula]

Sure you can ask for anything you like but if what your asking for isn't realistic, you're not gonna get it and I don't think this petition is being realistic. If they focused on a particular point they may have more success than a blanket demand for more investment. The whole country would be bust in no time if every petition for investment was accepted. Don't get me wrong I think it would be great if all the issues the petition raises could be dealt with but its simply not going to happen.

In a way you're right. There aren't the resources for everything on this list. But, if only 1 or 2 elements of what's stated on this petition are dealt with, that would make a huge difference to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people with mental health illness in this country. We can't change everything all at once, but we can start by changing some things

[Amaya]

There is plenty of wealth in Europe to pay for everything we all need. There is something like 3 trillion dollars floating around in private investments of the very rich. The problem is the distribution of the wealth. Wte shouldn't have to fight each other over crumbs or think that an increase to funding for mental health will be a decrease to something else. I get my benefits because I paid taxes when I worked. Those super rich people only have what they do because ordinary people are working hard to produce the goods and services they sell to make those massive profits. I'm with Rose on this issue, it's our job to demand more.. because it is there. Services for mental health should not be optional extras.

[Zeppelin]

I do agree with you here Paula, if the petition is bought up and discussed and results in any improvement in treatment or its availability to people then it would be a success, even if it doesn't get all the things it asks for. Providing that doesn't mean a loss or reduction in services to someone else if funding is redirected. And yes you are right too Emmy there is a lot of money floating around in private investments but this is private money not public so would not be available for public healthcare, unless we maybe petition those who have the money or if perhaps there is a massive social/economic revolution (which may not be a bad thing at all), but that may be beyond the scope of the original petition put forward here.