The Danish government has proposed investing DKK 567 million in mental health services for 2024, with a specific focus on psychiatric care for children and young people. Health Minister Sophie Løhde acknowledges the challenges faced by the country’s mental health services, particularly the long waiting times that young people endure before receiving treatment. The plan includes a “here-and-now” package for children and youth mental health services, aimed at increasing capacity to provide treatment more quickly, including during ongoing investigations, and expanding follow-up care for those who have completed treatment courses.
Additionally, the government aims to establish “obligatory partnerships between Regions and municipalities” to set targets for prevention and de-escalation of situations involving aggressive behavior. Another ambition is to incorporate psychiatry into the basic medical training program for doctors, increasing the number of doctors specializing in psychiatry.
The government plans to allocate an extra DKK 400 million in mental health services through the 2024 budget, with some funds provided by regional and municipal budgets and DKK 100 million from the national budget’s research reserve for research in the field. Combining these additional investments with previous budgets, the total spending on mental health services in 2024 will reach DKK 1.6 billion. The government had previously passed a ten-year plan for mental health services with annual spending of DKK 500 million, and a new proposal for a fully-costed ten-year plan is expected in 2024.
However, Health Minister Sophie Løhde acknowledged that while these investments are significant, they do not resolve all the challenges facing Denmark’s mental health services. She stated that a substantial backlog still exists in these services.
