Trust CEO: National leaders are holding back mental health progress

A leading trust CEO and former national director has warned the mental health sector feels “abandoned”, with no long-term plan and its “share of spend falling like a stone”.

Claire Murdoch, who was NHS England’s mental health and learning disabilities lead until she resigned in September, said leaders in the sector were “geared up wanting to go further, faster”, but were being held back as “there is no overarching long-term national plan”.

She said the service was being “overshadow[ed]” by the current weight put by government and NHSE leadership on “electives, A&E and money”.

In a comment responding to an HSJ leader column  last week, Ms Murdoch said there were signs that staffing was “faltering”,  while many MH services required investment. She pointed in particular to the need to improve “assertive outreach” to high-risk patients in the community, and tackle widespread long waiting lists, particularly for young people.

Ms Murdoch, who is also a registered mental health nurse, said “ending the awful practice” of out-of-area placements – where people are sent a long way from their home area in order to get an inpatient mental health bed – should be “an imperative for all systems”.

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Source: HSJ, 4 March 2026