PEOPLE with mental health problems will benefit from new strategies being developed by Buckinghamshire Health Authority.

The strategies aim to develop services for adults and youngsters for the next five years.

They have been developed in conjunction with Buckinghamshire County Council, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Probation Service, Milton Keynes Council and Buckinghamshire Health Authority in consultation with representatives of the Buckingham- shire Local Medical Committee.

The main priorities include improving the involvement of the mentally ill and their carers in the planning and organisation of care. The health authority also intends to improve 24-hour access to services and improve education and training for staff who work with people with mental health problems.

Buckinghamshire Health Authority has already been encouraging specialist mental health services to work with other health services, such as hospital accident and emergency departments and family doctors.

During the next five years the BHA hopes the new strategies will help to reduce the suicide rate and build and maintain people's confidence in local mental health services.

The authority intends to use £500,000 of the new NHS Modernisations Fund -- money which has been set aside by the Government to modernise the NHS -- to help develop the plans, particularly the need for 24-hour services and more staffed beds.

Karen Lockwood, director of Buckinghamshire Association for Mental Health, said: "One in four people experience mental health problems and yet most people just brush the situation under the carpet or stick their head in the sand and hope the subject will go away.

"The stigma of mental illness is still so immense that the public shy away from discussing the subject. This causes suffering and grief among families that have to cope with the day-to-day situation of coping with a mentally ill person.

"As this country reaches the 21st century it is about time mental health went to the top of people's agenda."

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