The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care gave a speech at The Royal
Foundation’s Emergency Services Mental Health Symposium.
"Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen I’m honoured to be
here at this hugely important event which shines a spotlight on a
vital issue. I would like to pay tribute to you Sir, and to
everyone else, for the commitment you have shown to this cause.
Our emergency services, they represent the best of us, running
towards danger when most of us run away.
I’m honoured to have had the privilege of working closely with
three of our emergency services.
The ambulance service in my current role as Health Secretary and,
also of course, the police and fire service when I served as Home
Secretary.
I’ve always found it humbling to see the extraordinary lengths
that they go to keep us all safe.
And not only did I see this through my work at the Home Office
and as Health Secretary, I saw it in my own home too.
As some of you will know, my younger brother Bas is a police
officer, serving for the last 27 years.
One of the proudest moments of my life was going to his
graduation as a senior police officer.
But its been hard to hear from my older brother about some of the
experiences that he and his colleagues have endured whilst
they’re doing their jobs trying to keep us all safe.
Of course, it certainly takes a physical toll and my brother has
had all manner of bruises and cuts to show but we don’t talk
often enough about the mental toll.
It’s a tough job even in normal times, but it’s been even tougher
during the pandemic.
Dealing with the greater demand that a public health emergency
brings while unable to do many of the things that would normally
bring us joy, like seeing our loved ones.
MIND’s illuminating report, the Blue Light Report, reveals just
how stark this impact has been and how almost 7 in 10 emergency
responders feel that their mental health has deteriorated as a
result of the pandemic.
This is hugely concerning.
And we’re doing everything in our power to strengthen our support
for those colleagues that are on the frontline.
We’ve set up, for example, 40 mental health and wellbeing hubs
for NHS staff, making sure that they have rapid access to mental
health services and we’ve introduced helplines and a 24/7 text
service exclusively for staff.
I also want to do more to recognise our emergency services, and
the essential work that they do.
When I was Home Secretary, I launched something called the Police
Covenant, a pledge to do more as a nation to recognise those who
serve this country and a few weeks ago, I announced how I want to
establish a NHS Covenant too so we can give even more support to
those who work in our NHS.
Although the pandemic has been arduous for our nation’s health,
it’s also, in some ways, been a time when we’ve seen some change
for good with, I think, more people feeling able to talk openly
about their mental health including of course, members of our
Royal Family. Something we just saw now, on the panel.
These, of course, are very positive developments. And we must
build on this momentum.
I was pleased to see that MIND’s report showed that when compared
to 2015 double the amount of emergency responders say they feel
able to talk openly about their mental health issues or
challenges at work and that the vast majority of people who did
come forward for the support, they found it helpful.
There’s so much good work that is taking place already, right
across our emergency services.
And today’s event provides a valuable opportunity to learn from
one another and from what’s been successful in our different
emergency services.
So I’d like to thank all the charity partners who’ve been
involved in today’s Symposium and especially MIND for the work
that they do to raise awareness of this vital issue.
Our emergency services have been there for us all throughout this
crisis.
And as we recover, I, and the government, are determined to be
there for them too and to put mental and physical health on an
equal footing at last.
Thank you all very much."
