UNILAD challenges the government to tackle the mental health epidemic at the root, and fast. As Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Hunt MP is best placed to help solve this issue.

To do this, the government needs to cut mental health service waiting times for young people, by shortening the timeline of their pledge to introduce maximum waiting times by 2022-3. If not, our country will lose countless young lives in the meantime.

On average, a child waits a decade from the moment they suffer their first symptom of poor mental health to receiving treatment. Furthermore, two committees of MPs published a report on May 9, saying the government's plans will take too long to come into effect and will ‘fail a generation’ through complacency and inadequacy. 

At such a crucial stage in young people’s development, mental health issues should be treated as a matter of urgency. Diagnosing and treating issues early will help deal with problems before they develop into something worse.

If the government is really serious about tackling the mental health crisis, they need to finally take decisive action.

Signed,

UNILAD.