In October 1999 , Health Minister, Frank Dobson announced to the House of Commons that "as a totality the system of care in the community has failed".

These comments and the report in which they were contained Modernising Mental Health Services were triggered by a big rethink by government on mental health. There had been a serious underestimation as to the complexity of the needs of people with serious mental illness living in the community and a sometimes disastrous underestimation of the resources needed to meet them.

The National Service Framework for Mental Health promised then and published last year, acknowledged among other things what Service Users had known for a long time; i.e. that while they may occasionally have some need for specialist intervention, 90% of what they need is nothing more than the opportunities granted to and taken for granted by "normal" people in our society, i.e. to be employed, have money, live somewhere decent, have friends, and generally make a go of their lives in what ever direction they see fit.
Of course these are the factors that are crucial to everybody's health and happiness, but frustratingly they are ones frequently denied to people with mental health problems because of the generally widespread fear and ignorance of mental health issues that persists in society today.

The community remains the place where most people receive their mental health care. Only a small number of those referred ever get admitted to hospital.
Community mental health care in Herefordshire is provided by a Community Mental Health Teams and a variety of voluntary and independent agencies, working in partnership.

On these pages you will find details of these services and how to access them.