Clive Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham, has blasted years of what he has said is Conservative neglect of mental health services, warning that poor NHS environments are actively harming patient recovery.
Speaking at the Liberal Democrat spring conference on March 14, he highlighted the continued failure to deliver parity between mental and physical health.
During a debate on mental health, Clive Jones MP began by saying: “The Liberal Democrats believe in parity between mental and physical health.
“It is a promise our country has never lived up to. … the Conservative party squandered the opportunity to make it happen.”
The MP pointed to deteriorating NHS buildings across the country, including for patients across Wokingham who rely on services such as the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
He spoke about appalling conditions, including hospitals falling down, leaky roofs, and raw sewage running through corridors.
In his speech, Clive Jones stressed that the physical environment patients are treated in has a direct and clinical impact on recovery, particularly for those with mental health conditions.
He went on to say that while we have long understood – since the time of Florence Nightingale – that physical wounds cannot heal in unclean conditions, the same logic hasn’t been applied when caring for mental health patients.
He concluded his speech by warning that mental health patients are being overlooked:
“It should be obvious that a depressed person, in a depressing environment, will never recover quickly. Mental health patients should not be out of sight, and out of mind to the Liberal Democrats.”
Following the conference, he said: “For too long, mental health patients have been treated as an afterthought, left in crumbling buildings that actively hold back their recovery. That is simply unacceptable in a modern healthcare system.
“Residents across Wokingham and Berkshire rely on NHS services that should be safe, fit for purpose, and support recovery – not hinder it.
“The government must urgently commit to proper investment in mental health services and the NHS buildings they operate in.
“Patients deserve dignity, and that starts with the environment they are treated in. Our country must do better.
“And it can.”
