Recommendation 19

HM Government · verbatim extract Rejected

The government recognises the critical importance of good mental health and wellbeing to the agricultural and veterinary communities and notes with concern the evidence contained in the report. Defra’s Farming and Countryside Programme works with several farming charities to ensure planned changes in policy are delivered effectively and seeks to minimise any additional burden placed on farmers and landowners. Defra has contributed to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) Big Farming Survey, which highlighted mental health challenges for farming communities. A combination of factors contributes to poor levels of mental health and wellbeing. The RABI survey found an average of 6 varied factors contributing to stress. These were a mixture of natural factors (for example weather), health factors including COVID-19, regulatory and financial factors (for example loss of subsidies), and social factors (for example rural crime and public access). DHSC does not plan to develop a workplan with NHSE and local health and occupation charities, since setting and managing targets for local systems would not align with NHSE’s new operating model, following the recommendations of the Hewitt Review. However, DHSC is progressing other ways of improving the support available for those within the agricultural and veterinary sectors. Prevalence data (i.e., data on the prevalence of both treated and untreated psychiatric disorders in the English adult population (aged 16 and over)) is essential in establishing mental health need and unmet need in the population. The latest information on the number of adults with a diagnosable mental health condition (including a breakdown by occupation) was provided by the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) in 2014. The commissioning and delivery of the next survey was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. We know that services have been reporting increase in demand and changes in the complexity of cases, so it is likely that estimates from that 2014 survey are limited in what they can tell us about current prevalence. DHSC has commissioned the next iteration of the APMS to provide essential data on adult mental health prevalence to inform service planning, commissioning, and improvement. Fieldwork on the APMS is taking place and reporting is planned for early 2025. DHSC will consider the findings of this survey, including in the context of improving the mental health and well-being of agricultural and veterinary communities. There are currently no plans to commission Health Education England, now NHS England, to develop a specific training programme for rural NHS providers and staff. However, NHS care providers must assess the learning needs of their workforce and ensure that their staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and expertise to deliver services to all the communities they serve. Employees have free access to a broad quantity of specialist materials via e- learning platforms and a mechanism is in place for NHS care providers to submit any identified gaps in training provision to ICBs to support the workforce planning processes. Government works closely with the veterinary profession, including the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA). Defra officials regularly engage with both these organisations as well as the wider profession. The profession has several initiatives in place, such as the RCVS Mind Matters Initiative and the BVA Good Veterinary Workplace Scheme and note too, the work that is being done by organisations such as VetLife to support the mental health of veterinary professionals.