When the Labour Party said a vote for them was a vote for change, I bet their supporters didn’t bank on this being code for a vote for a ridiculous policy idea every week.
This week its Liz Kendall‘s turn with her idea to send work coaches into mental health hospitals to get seriously ill people back to work.
Apparently the idea is that when someone is at the stage of being ready to be discharged they’ll be visited by an adviser to help them create a CV and apply for jobs.
Does the Work and Pensions Secretary seriously think that anyone who is ready to go home from hospital is able to work the next day?
Here’s the newsflash for Kendall and her Cabinet colleagues: Being seriously ill with mental health issues means someone can’t work.
Being discharged just means someone is ready to not be in hospital and can recover at home. It doesn’t mean they are ready to work.
She wouldn’t expect someone who is discharged from hospital with a broken leg to go into work the following day so why does she think it’s okay to suggest mentally ill people do it?
If she is truly interested in saving this country money by changing the way that mentally ill people are treated then she should have words with Wes Streeting and Rachel Reeves about proper funding to overhaul the mental health system.
It shouldn’t be the case that someone from Cornwall is sent to a hospital near Manchester for treatment because it’s the closest one with a bed. But this is happening.
It shouldn’t be the case that mental health is so underfunded people only get help once they reach crisis point. But this is happening.
It shouldn’t be the case that people in mental health units are left for weeks without seeing a psychiatrist. But this is happening.
It shouldn’t be the case that the NHS sends mentally ill people to private hospitals because it doesn’t have enough beds for them. But this is happening.
Improving the mental health system for inpatients would enable many of them to recover faster so they are ready to be discharged more quickly.
And, when they are at the stage of being ready to be sent home, if Kendall wants to send in advisers she should focus on those to help people as they rediscover life on the outside.Those should include therapists, benefits advisers, and those who can give advice about housing.
They shouldn’t involve someone who is pushing them into a job before they are ready, just to tick some boxes in Kendall’s department.
Any steps towards returning to work should be done slowly, and with the guidance and support of the patient’s community mental health team. (Dear Labour, please can you ensure that you have adequately resourced community mental health support in all areas of the UK.)
What Kendall also needs to know is that her department’s work coaches aren’t the best.
I was briefly assigned one at the start of my « cancer journey » when I applied for benefits. I spent at least eight weeks explaining that the reason I wasn’t looking for a job was I had one as a journalist. The other reason I wasn’t looking for a job was because I have cancer.
It took a letter from one of my cancer doctors to get the coach to understand that I didn’t need to be spending my days applying for jobs and working on my CV.
Maybe instead of giving advice about how long a personal statement should be and what font is best for a CV, the work advisers should be spending their time helping Labour come up with another ridiculous policy.
Whatever they decide to do next can’t be as absurd as they’ve done already, or can it?
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