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New Statutory body as an alternative to the NHS for mental health and hidden disability

IrishInManchesterUK

Now that advances in medical science has uncovered more people in modern times, children, adolescents and adults alike, including in the post-Covid era, with mental health and hidden disabilities including autism, is it not now time to set up a separate statutory body, properly funded and properly managed, entirely seperate from the NHS, dealing exclusively with all mental health and hidden disability issues? We all know the problems of the NHS that have been going on for decades and are well-documented, of mismanagement and wastage, so is it not time for a fresh start with a new body, alongside implementing reforms within the NHS?

Parents

  • While relatively minor issues can be figured out, the reality at the end of the day is that the current crisis situation is totally unsustainable and further emphasises the need to “take the bull by the horns” in implementing innovative, fundamental, far-reaching and groundbreaking legislative changes where, yes, a revolution is exactly what is absolutely required, much needed and long overdue, where difficult decisions must be made, even if unpopular to some, driven by the kind of strong leadership that is exactly what is needed - while I acknowledge the comments made regarding various issues, the present situation must not be allowed to continue - my granny used to say that “there are limits to everything” and “what will a certain course of action lead to” and very often during my 30 years in supermarket retailing, our managers had to use their initiative in dealing with certain situations using common sense 

  • in reply to IrishInManchesterUK
    Trigger warning:
    For a neurodivergent person whose nervous system is already dysregulated by a hostile world, a "revolution" can feel terrifying because it threatens what little stability they have left.
    I know this from personal experience, so I respect where other people may be coming from on this, 
    Nonetheless...
    This thread and what has happened in it is why I said in my first response that the only way change is going to happen is through a revolutionary shift in thought and practice—I'm with granny's thinking on this.
    By adopting the language of the establishment ("it's too expensive," "the public won't support it," "large systems always fail"), people are essentially acting as the gatekeepers of their own marginalisation. It is preemptively managing one's own expectations for a system that is already failing us. "Turkeys voting for Christmas" springs to mind.
    But if I look closer at this, and perhaps more compassionately, the answers members are coming up with here could be a defence mechanism against a much deeper, more painful truth: if a better world for neurodivergent people is actually possible, then the suffering people are currently experiencing is completely unnecessary and cruel.
    It is psychologically safer to believe that a system is broken because it has to be.
    I tried to break the spell by shifting the conversation away from "costs" to "savings" and explaining that if there's a will, there's a way.
    Personally, though, I maintain that the only way for true psychological safety to come about is through revolutionary thinking and action.
    Up the Grannies!!!
  • in reply to Phased

    I’ve read through most of your linked thread and replies to same, (even though it was beyond my own understanding) and to me, given my traditional Irish Catholic faith background, it all really boils down to being a decent person and having a properly functioning moral compass, as this is essentially an ethical and moral issue, that used to be the case at the start of the NHS in 1948 and its founding principles - many Irish nurses who joined the NHS from the 1950’s well into the 1980’s came from Irish hospitals run by Irish Catholic nuns who ran the Irish hospitals properly, according to traditional Catholic teachings pre-Vatican II (1962) and to these Irish Catholic nursing nuns, nursing was far more than just a 9-5 job, it was their vocation, their whole life’s work and they passed these values onto the Irish girls that trained under them, many of whom had been convent educated in the Catholic Ireland of that time (to which we need to return) - I’ve met many of these wonderful Irish nurses over the years and it’s ironic that in the years after their retirement many of these elderly Irish women were badly let down by the NHS that has become ideologically driven even before Covid, amid decades long documented scandals of mismanagement and wastage of public funds in multiple ways, where mental health and hidden disability was an afterthought, where the bulk of (already the poor relation and limited) mental health funding was obsessively focused on children’s autism at the expense of autistic adults - aside from the Liverpool Care Pathway (and the horrific Maid programme in Canada) that was only defeated by a worryingly narrow margin in the Commons, as an older and conservative-minded gay man myself, I was outraged to discover that much-needed NHS funding and resources were being given to children in the form of beta-blockers and gender reassignment hormones where also, transgender surgeries were being performed in the NHS - given the horrific stories from detransitioners, I’m totally opposed to this, especially in the case of children - frankly, our political leaders need to “cop themselves on” and do what is right and start to rediscover their moral compass, grow up and stop acting like children - attitudes will only change when strong and properly enforced legislation is passed (and this will work for public education on autism, mental health and hidden disabilities too) that provide for criminal prosecutions and jail time for senior managers in the NHS and politicians who fail to take their ethical and moral responsibilities and obligations sufficiently seriously - they need to be constantly and robustly challenged on their continued failures in a supposedly civilised, compassionate and caring society underpinned by Christian ethical and moral principles and we must take a “zero tolerance” approach and mindset, which has worked very well for other groups fighting for change, such as the gay community 

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    The church in the UK has got "form" on this up to the highest level.

    It came up in conversation with my wife today following on from sharing dinner with a neighbour who are themselves newly invested in "the cloth"

    https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2026/09/lord-spiritual-resigns-amid-sexual-assault-inquiry

    https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/31-january/news/uk/bishop-of-liverpool-to-resign-from-active-ministry-in-church-of-england

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckge4pwlpn2po

    and I agree that there are extreme risks with giving people such power and authority and it is "evil" in particular that such exists in a faith that ostensibly promotes "God's love".

    I am personally struck by the concept that the only way not to be tarnished by "original sin" is to follow someone's orders - rather than having one's own moral and ethical compass to listen to.

    The biggest stupidity in all this is absolute obedience built into any system where corruption grows. 

    I've dug a bit and the problem with the church "marking their homework" is actively being pursued https://snapnetwork.org/2026/02/21/bishop-of-lincoln-68-is-arrested-for-sexual-assault-and-has-been-suspended-from-ministry-after-complaint-was-made/

    To be clear I supported the OP w/r/to the need for reform of mental health and neurodivergent and push back against cold and unfeeling NHS beurocracy.

    I am with those such as yourself  and  silencing of dissent is precisely what enabled, protected, and covered up the systemic abuse of children and vulnerable women and men.

    However  I would like to make it clear that I care for and value your response too.  Is there another way for getting "law" across that doesn't rely upon what has been demonstrated to be a destructive and evil way of doing it?

    Can we not have strong laws built on external transparency, independent oversight, and the inclusion of vulnerable voices, rather than returning to a system of fear and blind obedience?

  • in reply to B
    B said:
    I worked in the Catholic church for a few years and I saw cover ups first hand

    Hmm. It’s shocking. Abuse was rampant and continues. 

    I didn’t see sexual abuse, but following the PP’s convictions and some of the victims accounts, I can see the occasions where some of it might have happened within the parochial house and other settings. 

    For some, the clerical state offers power, privilege and distance from the people. This is attractive to many. Doesn’t seem that God, or “the prompting of the Holy Spirit” comes into a vocation to the priesthood.  

    I don’t know whether or not that contributed to becoming agnostic, but it didn’t help.

  • in reply to ArchaeC
    ArchaeC said:
    The Parish Priest in my parish was jailed for sexual abuse. Thank goodness that eventually, the abused had a voice and the priest convicted.

    There is a history within the Catholic church of abuse for which there should be great shame.

    The slavery of young women in the laundries by nuns is another example.

    I worked in the Catholic church for a few years and I saw cover ups first hand.

    The lives of some of the abused children historically in Catholic run homes must have been hell on earth.

    When people have power, and are cloaked by the church, they can and will abuse it.

    ps.  You will know all this, of course, considering where you live.

    I'm a bit agitated because the OP has been here before and said similar and much more extreme things.

    I probably need to try to stop reading (but I find that hard).

  • in reply to B

    The Parish Priest in my parish was jailed for sexual abuse. Thank goodness that eventually, the abused had a voice and the priest convicted.

  • in reply to IrishInManchesterUK
    IrishInManchesterUK said:
    the Parish Priest also ruled the roost in many Irish villages where his final word was the law,
    IrishInManchesterUK said:
    it was firmly and forcefully spelt out to us kids in a most forthright manner and with full authority that we had no right to argue, protest nor object (we were made to feel scared - and this was the whole point, fear generating respect and total obedience and compliance without question,

    This is precisely how the abuse of children and young people by Catholic priests was enabled along with the collusion and the 'turning a blind eye' of the priests' contemporaries and their superiors.

Reply
  • in reply to IrishInManchesterUK
    IrishInManchesterUK said:
    the Parish Priest also ruled the roost in many Irish villages where his final word was the law,
    IrishInManchesterUK said:
    it was firmly and forcefully spelt out to us kids in a most forthright manner and with full authority that we had no right to argue, protest nor object (we were made to feel scared - and this was the whole point, fear generating respect and total obedience and compliance without question,

    This is precisely how the abuse of children and young people by Catholic priests was enabled along with the collusion and the 'turning a blind eye' of the priests' contemporaries and their superiors.

Children