Failures in Women's Mental Health - a podcast by BBC Radio 5 live

5 live Investigates reports on claims that thousands of women and girls with mental health problems are being routinely failed by the NHS - sometimes with tragic consequences. Marjorie Wallace - chief executive of the mental health charity Sane - has called the situation 'the UK's hidden national emergency.' The charity Agenda - an alliance of more than 60 organisations representing women and girls at risk - submitted a Freedom of Information request to 57 NHS mental health trusts in England. But of the 35 trusts which responded, only one had a specific women's mental health strategy. Not only that, but more than half had no policy of routinely asking patients if they'd been abused - and that goes against best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The Department of Health said: "It is vital that all mental health care, particularly when abuse is involved, takes account of gender. Clinical guidelines are clear on this and the NHS has recently published its strategy for mental health - equality is central to this and we expect this to lead to rapid improvement across all care.".

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