Student Minds are striving to get the health service you deserve

At the end of 2024, we responded to the government’s consultation on the upcoming NHS 10 Year Health Plan. The Plan is being written to set out key reforms for the NHS, in response to the findings of the Lord Darzi review. The review highlighted a number of challenges faced by the health service that will be painfully familiar to many of our students. 
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Drawing on a range of evidence including our Student Mental Health Manifesto, research insights, and your student voice, we pulled together a response which highlighted a number of vital issues. We said:

As soon as possible, the government must: 

• Increase funding for the NHS in order to to: 
  • increase the availability of mental health support 
  • Increase the variety of mental health support available to address the diverse needs of the population
  • Reduce waiting times 
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• Eliminate thresholds for care which see many people unable to access treatment due to being deemed too ill for primary care, but not ill enough for secondary care 
  
  
• Commit to improving pay and working conditions for NHS staff, including healthcare students
  
  
• Commit to improving mental health and wellbeing support for healthcare students on placement:
  • Require universities and the NHS to take a joined-up, multi-agency approach to providing support, ensuring this is clear, accessible, inclusive, and consistent, with effective information sharing where appropriate. 
    
    
• Introduce free prescriptions, dental care, and sight tests for all higher education students by default.

Of course, this is a ten year plan, which sets out to fix long-term issues. Here’s what we said about building a healthier NHS for the future:

To build a sustainable and successful NHS in the long-term:

• The Department of Health and Social Care should develop a long-term strategy and funding plan which ensures the sustainability and improvement of mental health services, ensuring they are accessible, safe, and effective for all.
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• Recruit and retain NHS staff - particularly in mental health roles, enabling a reduced caseload at primary and secondary services. 
  
  
• Introduce specific, consistent, and specialist student healthcare support pathways including student mental health teams within secondary care, similar to those available to veterans and in perinatal care. 
  
  
• Enable greater collaboration and communication between universities and mental health services, allowing for a consistent, cohesive, and joined-up approach to care. 
  • Require NHS support and university support to be recognised as part of the same student support ecosystem, with improved information sharing. 
    
    
• Improve the support available to young people aged 18-25 who transition from Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to adult mental health services, for instance by developing specialist support for this transition, and by working with higher education providers to support young people who choose to go to university.

We want to take a moment to thank the many students, HE staff members, and supporters who took their time to feed into the consultation, either through us or directly. Your voice matters and it’s important to speak up when you get the opportunity.
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The consultation has now closed and we’re eagerly awaiting to hear back. Our work doesn’t stop here - we’ll keep fighting for a fully funded, resourced, functioning NHS, which provides targeted, specialist and accessible student mental health support, and pays placement students a fair wage for their incredibly hard work.​

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Interested in reading our full response? You can download a .PDF version below:

Download .PDF version