Consultation by: Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council consulted on its Creating a Mentally Healthy City 2025 strategy, which outlines a vision and plan to improve mental health and wellbeing across the city. The strategy includes priorities across four key areas — People, Families, Communities and Places — as well as a strand focused on suicide prevention. Healthwatch Birmingham responded to the consultation to ensure that the views of local people are reflected in the final plan.
Key Points from Our Response
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Support for Vision and Principles: We strongly agreed with the strategy’s ambition and principles, particularly around collaboration, inclusivity, and empowerment. However, we encouraged a clearer focus on tackling health inequalities and properly resourcing services.
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Priorities for Action:
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People & Families: We backed support for resilience, parenting, and caregiving but highlighted the need to address unsafe housing and its impact on mental health.
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Communities: We supported priorities around peer support and community leadership but stressed the importance of protecting local spaces that foster wellbeing.
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Places: We agreed with creating safe, inclusive environments and called for housing decisions that prioritise wellbeing, especially for renters.
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Suicide Prevention: We fully supported all proposed priorities and recommended collecting more patient experience data to improve services.
Final Thoughts
We urged the Council to engage more with communities, ensure equity in service delivery, and protect vital local resources. We look forward to seeing how this strategy leads to meaningful action across Birmingham.